For more than two decades the NAPA Thunder Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park have served notice that winter is over and spring has returned to the historic track. The NAPA 2010 Thunder Nationals should prove to be a worthy successor to that great series as the race expands to two nights for the first time ever. “The Fastest Track in Michigan” will host the 2010 NAPA Thunder Nationals this Friday and Saturday May 7-8.

During the off-season US 131 Motorsports Park repaved their track. Their already impressive surface now features concrete to the 1,000 foot mark for maximum traction. The new surface, combined with expected cooler temperatures, should once again prove that US 131 is indeed the "Fastest Track in Michigan." Headlining this year’s racing card are the stars and cars of the Mountain Motor Pro Stock Association (MMPSA). In fact, the Thunder Nationals will be only the second event ever for the newly-formed association and US 131‘s Pro Stock records are likely to fall.

There was a time when Pro Stock was about the muscle car, the epitome of Super Stock on steroids.

It was the highest level of doorslammer racing in the early 1970s.

Tommy Delago leads a secret life and doesn’t mind if people know it.

Twenty-three times a year, Delago is on the road as crew chief for Matt Hagan’s 8,000-horsepower nitro Funny Car. On those rare weekends off he’s a bracket racer.

Recently Delago knocked off the rust during the Sparco 3-20s at Bristol Dragway, a three-day bracket race paying $20,000 to win each day to the winner.

Kenny and Brandon Bernstein will be the Newsmakers of the Week on The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, May 5, 7 p.m. EDT, on www.PowerUpChannel.com.

Kenny is a six-time NHRA champion and, along with Gary Scelzi, is the only driver to win titles in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He ended his career with 69 national wins and is a true Hall of Famer. He’ll forever be known as the first driver to make a 300 mph pass, in 1992.

Bernstein is also regarded as one of racing’s best businessmen, having fielded teams in Indy Car and NASCAR, plus a record 30-year sponsorship with Budweiser. He now owns the Top Fueler driven by son Brandon, with Copart sponsorship.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champions Tony Schumacher, Robert Hight, and Warren Johnson plus Pro Stock owner/driver Rodger Brogdon headline tonight's WFO Radio NHRA Tuesday with Joe Castello, live at 7 p.m. ET.  To listen live or on-demand, go to http://www.WFORadio.com

Here's the first pictures of Justin Humphrey's new Mustang soon to be hitting the track. The beautiful blue design was created by Rod Burke at Burke designs and Jeff Hoskins made the rendering become reality. Jerry Haas built the chassis for the new Mustang.

If you can think of the 2010 NHRA schedule as a series of battlefields, then it shouldn't be too hard to fathom how one engine builder is sizing up the competition looking for just the right time and place to make their assault on the Pro Stock class.

D-day is coming. The field of battle is the Pro Stock class. The army is lead by Justin Humphreys driving an all new Ford Mustang. All that is left to be done is to pick just the right beach to release the horses.

Roush Yates Performance Group is moving into the NHRA arena.

By all accounts, Paul “PB” Candies should be a famous race car driver, or car builder or tuner or something in drag racing. His is the blood of royalty in the world of drag racing.

Paul Candies, PB’s father, was half of the NHRA world championship-winning team, Candies & Hughes. For three decades, the pair from Houma, La., Candies and Leonard Hughes formed a powerhouse team, especially in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks.

Instead, Candies is a fledgling racer, his career path taking a detour before he was even born.

Pro Mod racer Jay Payne learned a quick lesson about his new Mustang built by Dennis Burnevik at Sinned Customs. The horse will fly.

Payne, on just his second pass with the new car, covered the Gateway International Raceway quarter-mile with a 5.86 elapsed time at 249 miles per hour.

Tim Wilkerson and John Force participated in the first test session to determine if a smalller fuel pump of 65 gallons per minute might be the key to efficiently slowing the premiere nitro divisions.

Judging whether this is the proper route to go remains to be seen, but Wilkerson was confident Monday’s test wasn’t a failure.

“I think it went pretty well,” said Wilkerson, driving home from the Monday test session following the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis. “There are some discussions which will happen in the future between us, Dan Olson and Austin Coil to try and make some rational decisions.