TULSA, Okla. — Tanner Thorson has his arsenal locked and loaded this week at the SageNet Center as he attempts to win his second Chili Bowl Nationals.
The California native has made it clear in years past that he makes the yearly pilgrimage to Oklahoma with no other purpose than to win.
And while that statement rings true for the majority of the 375 entries who have entered the 38th annual Chili Bowl, Thorson seems to take it a little more seriously than most.
“I don’t come to the race track not prepared,” said Thorson, who is attempting to make his 10th Chili Bowl feature. “I approach it about the same every year, and the end goal is to win the race.”
He’s been threatening for a Golden Driller since 2014, when he made his debut at the indoor midget race. Since then, he’s earned two preliminary night victories and a coveted Golden Driller in 2022.
“I’ve been fast in this building from 2014 on, and I just think it’s something to do with how I grew up racing,” Thorson said. “I grew up indoor racing in Red Bluff, California, and it just kind of suits the way I drive.”
The No. 88 driver came tantalizingly close to earning back-to-back triumphs in the 55-lap A main, as he was Logan Seavey’s primary challenger during the latter half of last year’s feature.
However, despite his best efforts, Thorson finished second.
“I felt like the race track didn’t really play out the way we needed it to, but it still was a good race and we were there at the end,” Thorson said. “I felt like I was a little bit easy on Logan (Seavey) for a couple reasons. You know, I respect him as a driver and two, you can’t really get into the back of somebody and get him spun out, or else you’d get thrown to the back.”
Other than Monday’s Invitational Race of Champions, the first time Thorson and Seavey will find each other out on the race track again would be on Saturday, should both of them continue their A main streak.
Seavey runs Friday’s prelim, while Thorson is set for Thursday.
Not that it matters to Thorson. The 27-year-old doesn’t focus much on who he’s running against — only on beating them all.
Considering Thorson and his Tanner Thorson Racing squad have tightened up the operation over the past two years, he believes this year is one of his best chances to win a Golden Driller with his own team.
He drove for Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports when he won in 2022, though he owned the car itself.
“I’ve had a couple years to race and get my program built up and get parts and all the little pieces that I didn’t have last year,” Thorson said as he sat on the floor of his trailer. “We have a spare motor sitting up there that we didn’t have last year. We got more front ends and rear ends and steering gears — it’s the little things that just all add up.”
Spare parts and Chili Bowl-winning confidence may just be the formula Thorson was missing last year, or so he hopes.
“We’re gonna come in swinging harder than we ever have,” Thorson declared. “I want that second one (Golden Driller).”