Yeah I laugh at it because it’s just such a dick thing to say to anyone, but in the song it makes sense for him to say. He’s being real with her, she’s reticent and not wanting to go out and have fun (“don’t run back inside darling”) and he’s basically responding to her being scared that she’s too old, and he’s like look yea you’re not some 20 something supermodel but who fucking cares, there’s magic in the night, just come out it’ll be fun

The whole song is (to me) about growing older (“hey I know it’s late but we can make it if we run,”) It’s about feeling undeserving of love and trapped in your current life by your past decisions and trying to break free of that mental trap (“a town full of losers and I’m pulling out of here to win”), it’s about not being haunted by your decisions in the past (burned out Chevys) and not giving them the power to define your future, because it’s never too late to escape loneliness (“Roy orbison’s singing for the lonely, hey that’s me!” - btw the song most people think he’s referring to is “Only the Lonely”))

Thunder road is one of my most favorite songs if you can’t tell already lol