The 43-year-old gun has eight World Series Sprintcars (WSS) crowns to his name, to go with five Australian titles and three Grand Annual Sprintcar Classics.

Yet he craves feature wins as much as he did a decade ago, and a decade before that.

“None of those guys want it as bad as I do, that’s one thing I can guarantee you,” Tatnell declared before round five of WSS at Premier Speedway tonight.

“James (McFadden) knows how bad I want it and to what extents I’ll go to win. That’s the biggest thing.

“Age is nothing. It’s not until you get to the point where you have eyesight problems where age is going to become a barrier. We’re a long way from that.”

The unwavering desire to stand atop the podium goes some way to explaining Tatnell’s promising start to this summer’s WSS.

The Minnesota-based former Sydneysider endured a tough opening night in Adelaide but ran second at Murray Bridge before saluting at Mount Gambier. 

He was again on the pace at Avalon on Tuesday night, banking important series points after finishing eighth to leave him sixth in the overall standings. 

“Everything is based on winning every race we possibly can. That’s how our program works,” he said.

“We’ve got a good package (with Krikke Motorsport). Pretty much nearly everywhere we go, we’ve got a lot experience we can call on.”

Of course, there are races he wants to win more than others — a fourth Classic at Premier Speedway is firmly on his radar. But really, he wants them all.

“You can have a bad year and win the Classic and it makes it a great year, and not only on paper financially, there’s international recognition,” he said.

“But I’m not going to focus everything on one race. Our focus is winning World Series, winning the Classic, winning the Australian title.”

Tatnell grew up immersed in speedway. As the son of Australian icon George Tatnell, there were few other sporting paths he was going to take.

He broke through for his maiden WSS title in 1994-95, triumphed again in ’95-96 and reinforced his credentials with back-to-back wins at the turn of the century.

Another four titles in five seasons followed in the mid 2000s. In 2006, he was the reigning WSS and Australian champion.

By this time Tatnell was also an established figure in the United States.

He first took on the Yanks in 1991 and has been back most years since, driving full time on the ultra-competitive World of Outlaws circuit from 1999 to 2001.

His second campaign featured a major crash which left him with two broken vertebrae, a fractured sternum and a broken scapula in a shoulder.

“I guess I was lucky I didn’t continue walking around and thinking nothing of it,” he said at the time.

Come 2005, Tatnell was a US resident, based out of Forest Lake, Minnesota. He still lives there with his American wife Amy and children Emma, 8, and Garrett, 4.

He returned to the Outlaws for two more years before the team went bust during the global economic crisis.

Tatnell is running his own team these days and works in the building industry. Racing once took priority over family but the reverse has held true for years.

“I’m remodelling houses for a fellow racer who understands if I get a phone call and they offer me a ride, I’m going to take off and go racing,” he said.

He believes he still has much to deliver for fans, despite his resume being the envy of rivals across Australia.

“There’s still a lot I expect and want to achieve in racing, whether it be in Australia or America,” he said.

“A massive goal would be to win a (Knoxville) Nationals. Basically it’s the pinnacle of our sport. I still want to win a couple more Classics.

“I still want to try and get back to where we can go racing full time in America and have another crack at the Outlaws.

“Whether I can do a full Outlaws schedule, it’s a matter of getting back and racing more. It comes back to the fact I love driving race cars.”

Just like his famous father did.

“Gorgeous” George is one of only three drivers to win the Australian sprintcar and speedcar titles. He died in 2007, aged 68, but left an indelible mark on his son.

“He was diagnosed with cancer at 67, passed away at 68 and grew up at 67-and-a-half,” he said.

Tatnell still heeds his old man’s advice, most notably about making sure he raced for the right reasons — “the day it stops being fun, I’ll walk away from it”.

But he is happy to make a comparison.

“He was passionate about the sport but the biggest sacrifice he wasn’t prepared to make was putting a race car in front of his family,” he said.

“That’s why he never went to America to try his hand over there.

“My old man was far more talented as a driver than what I’ll ever be, but I’ve got more passion and drive to be a race car driver than what he did.”

There’s that ambition again.