In a career that has almost run parallel with World Series Sprintcars from its birth in 1987, Brooke Tatnell has etched up an amazing 75 WSS A-Main wins with his victory on New Years Day at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool, but don’t think for a second that it’s even close to his ultimate goal.

“When I looked at that plaque, it actually really hit me how cool it is, but not because of the number, but because of the longevity of it, that I’ve been able to compete and win against three decades of amazing racers,” he said.

“In that three decades, there’s been probably three generations of racers too, when you consider that there was my dad’s generation which had Rush and Lacey and John Walsh at the top of their game, then there was the Brazier, Dumesny, Jackson, Farr and Madsen generation which was, and still is awesome, and then here I am with these new kids, like McFadden, Veal, Lines and Dillon, which have a totally different set of circumstances for their careers to what I did when I was starting.”

“In fact, I drove James (McFadden) back to the hotel after the Brisbane round when I was given the plaque, and when he looked at it, he was a bit taken-back looking at the “75 wins” on it, and told me how cool he thought it was. And that means a lot to me, for someone of his calibre to acknowledge the achievement, because I know that James understands the sacrifice that has to be made to stay sharp.”

However, despite the magnificence of the staggering unmatched achievement, the 9-time champion says the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

“Numbers are numbers, but they don’t have the back story of those wins attached. There’s so many different circumstances surrounding those wins, like how I had three different crew chiefs over that time with Alan Felsch, Pete Caporn and Dylan Buswell, and even the 99/2000 season where I won five races and the championship and I was my own crew chief.”

“In fact, that year was probably the sweetest championship win, being able to beat Donny (Schatz) after he started the season with six straight wins, and to claw back the points without a crew chief; that was very satisfying.”

Brooke believes that the mental game of racing is where many of his victories have been won, and has sourced inspiration from fellow athletes who’ve dominated their respective arenas.

“I read a lot of books, but they’re mostly autobiographies because I want to know the person’s thought processes and what made them succeed. Sprintcar racing is a massive mind game, and if you lose that determination to win and the pigheadedness to believe you can, you’ll just fade away and I’m determined to not do that. In fact, James reckons I’ll be the guy who dies in the seat in the push-off lane,” he laughed.

And with 75 wins under his belt, is the tenacious Tatnell realistic about setting his sights on getting another plaque after another 25 victories?

“I’m not joking when I say that I’m determined to get 100 wins, but that probably means I’ll have to do it over another generation of guys we probably don’t even know yet! But I’m crazy enough to believe that no one loves this sport more than me and that my determination will be my legacy, more than the amount of races I’ve won.”

Brooke continues his quest to claim a tenth Enzed World Series title at Murray Bridge Speedway this Friday night for round 7, and leads the series on 2160 points with a slender 38 point margin over Jamie Veal, with a further 311 points back to Steve Lines, followed by James McFadden on 1816 points only 4 ahead of David Murcott on 1812. Check out www.worldseriessprintcars.com.au for more stories and details.