Tanner Thorson never doubted he’d eventually become a national touring winged Sprint Car winner. And now with two Kubota High Limit Racing victories the last seven series races, the 29-year-old’s not backing down from the belief there’s plenty more left for him to fulfill.

"There's no reason, and this is a long shot, I understand — and a lot of people will probably laugh at it — but I want to run top-three in (Kubota High Limit Racing) points next year,” Thorson boldly proclaimed following Sunday’s series victory at Path Valley Speedway Park in Spring Run, Pa. “And there's no reason why we can't, honestly. The speed we've picked up over the last six months, ever since Port Royal (Memorial Day weekend in May for the Weikert Memorial), we've picked so much speed, it's been unreal, honestly.”

With five races left in the High Limit season, which concludes Oct. 10-11 at Lakeside Speedway, Oct. 15 at Lucas Oil Speedway and Oct. 17-18 at Texas Motor Speedway, the Minden, Nev., driver isn’t too far off that ambitious goal — fifth in the standings, 96 points behind third-running Brent Marks.

If there’s anything Thorson’s hardly lacked over the years, it’s confidence. His talent is apparent, with his 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals title, ’16 USAC National Midget championship and brief stint in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series bedazzling his credentials.

It’s taken some time, but now closing out his second full-time High Limit campaign, Thorson’s tapping into his fuller potential as a winged Sprint Car racer with Rod Gross Motorsports and under the mentorship of a National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver. Married to Shaylee Smith-Thorson, the daughter of 222-time Sprint Car winner Stevie Smith, enables Thorson to grow in wisdom from his father-in-law nearly everyday.

"We just work so damn good together and he's not even here,” said Thorson, whose RGM No. 88 is sponsored by Smith’s business, Smith Titanium. "He's super sharp, and I feel like my feedback and stuff and his train of thought, he's been able to snap me in certain thoughts in my mind that I'm thinking wrong, and vice versa.”

The 59-year-old Smith tunes into every High Limit event possible so he can analyze his son-in-law’s every move. After every event, Smith will break down his observations and Thorson will use Smith as a sounding board all in the effort of polishing his race craft.

“Just for whatever reason, him sitting on the couch and his thought process on racing and then my thought process on racing, like, and what I'm feeling versus what he's seeing, it's just clicking,” Thorson said. “It don't work that way, it doesn't (usually) work very well that way, but it's just clicking. Just keep doing it.”

Thorson’s has some of the most raw speed among High Limit campaigners these last few weeks, notching victories in a fifth-to-first effort Sunday at Path Valley Speedway Park and especially impressing in Sept. 12’s series victory from the 12th-starting spot at Lernerville Speedway.

Along with a pair of full-field victories the last seven races, he’s finished inside the top-10 six times. Thorson labels this uptick in performance as “a big sigh of relief in a way, knowing how much speed we have and how great has come to be.”

“I say this all the time, we're just getting started,” he added.

Some of the bigger half-miles such as Eldora Speedway and Port Royal Speedway still perplex him, struggles he hopes to smooth over going into next season. He did finish seventh and 10th in Sept. 19-20’s 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora, but only 27th, 13th and 16th in Sept. 4-6’s Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal. He also failed to qualify for both the Joker’s Jackpot and Kings Royal in July at Eldora and could only finish 11th in May’s Weikert Memorial at Port Royal.

Thorson’s determined to make himself and his program better at those racetracks entering 2026.

"Eldora and Port Royal are my two worst racetracks I've ever ran at honestly. I'm just not comfortable at them. And Eldora ... a seventh and (10th) is like a win for us,” Thorson said. “We’re just gaining a lot of speed with our program. Our notebook's getting bigger and bigger, which is the biggest thing that I feel and that I set my mind to as a racer. And a guy that gets to kind of run the team as far as like a management side.

“There's focus on building the notebook. That's what we need to do, and we're doing that. And we're showing speed, which is very, like, satisfying to me and my team.”

Over the last 45 races, since June 4’s third-place finish at Wisconsin’s Red Cedar Speedway, he’s racked up 10 podium finishes. He’s also within reach of the Rotor-Rooter Midweek Series title — six points behind Rico Abreu — with Oct. 15’s finale at Lucas Oil Speedway the only midweek High Limit event left.

Whatever the results are this year, Thorson’s expecting bigger and better achievements next year as he plans an anticipated High Limit return.

"That's the plan. It just comes down to being able to get sponsors and stuff, obviously, and we have all the right stuff to do it,” Thorson said. “You can't do this, not necessarily on a low budget, but you can’t do this half ass. You can't, it's plain and simple. You have to be full-bore in. I got really good people behind us.

"All I care about is having our chemistry and having fun. When I'm not having fun, nobody's having fun. And when nobody's having fun, it doesn't do anything good for our team. We just gotta keep building and keep developing."