Scott Bloomquist
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Dirt Track News: Legend Scott Bloomquist dies in plane crash (Update)

Posted by AR1 staff

Ariel Bloomquist and Tony Stewart lead the four wide in honor of the great Scott Bloomquist at Eldora Speedway last night.

August 17, 2024 

60-year-old Dirt track legend Scott Bloomquist was killed in a plane crash near his home in Mooresburg, Tennessee on Friday morning. The Rogersville Review reported the news shortly after 8:30 a.m., indicating that local authorities confirmed that Bloomquist was “involved in a small aircraft crash.”

The news was confirmed by Missouri racer and close Bloomquist friend Reid Millard, a funeral director, who announced the tragedy in a Facebook post after receiving a call from Bloomquist’s mother Georgie.

Bloomquist was the son of an airplane pilot for Air Cal. While stationed in California, Bloomquist’s father was invited to see his coworker race a stock car. The elder Bloomquist thought he should give racing a try, so bought a race car, motor, and some old tires. He tried racing, and decided to give the race car to his son. Bloomquist’s first race was at Corona Raceway in Corona, California in August 1980. He won several races and the track championship in 1982.

In 1983 he heard about a $4,000-to-win race at the speedway in Chula Vista, California. He saw a picture of a flat-wedge-shaped race car that Charlie Swartz had used to win the Dirt Track World Championship in 1982, and he decided to build a race car like it for the Chula Vista race. Bloomquist won the race, lapping the field twice in the process.

After the race, his father wanted to sell the car since it was worth a lot of money. The two reached an agreement where the father would gradually be paid for the car if the newly graduated Scott Bloomquist would work at his father’s new farm far across the country in Tennessee. He traded his 1957 Chevy for a truck and race hauler. After arriving in Tennessee, he tore up the car in qualifying at Newport Speedway. He worked for his father until he had enough money to repair the car. He won some races, earning just enough money to continue racing.

The next year he decided to race with a new car at Kingsport, Tennessee Speedway, which had begun hosting a $2,500-to-win event every Saturday night. “I come rolling into the race with my dad and there sits Larry Moore,” Bloomquist said. “He was the fastest guy in dirt late model racing and there he sits. And my dad says, `Well, there goes that $2,500.'” Bloomquist qualified second fastest behind Moore and started out on Moore’s outside in the first row.

Bloomquist used the winnings to improve his race car. He continued working at his father’s farm to pay off his original race car. He began going to races with $2,000 purses that were 100 miles (160 km) from his house.

In 1988 he raced at Eldora Speedway’s World 100 against the three-time winner and favorite Jeff Purvis. After qualifying for the feature, which is unusual for a rookie, he started seventh. Purvis took the lead early in the race. Bloomquist slowly caught Purvis and passed him for the win. Some people consider his win a fluke until Bloomquist took the pole position the following year and won the race again in 1990.

He raced in the Hav-A-Tampa series from 1993 to 1996, winning the national touring series in 1994 and 1995. He led the 1996 points until he lost all of his points for bumping another car under caution. He had 60 wins in the series during that time, second place had 18 wins.

With problems both on and off-track, he left racing and started reading. He read about the human body and mind. After he returned to racing a changed person. He took all of his sponsors off the car and used only black-and-white paint. He changed from his familiar number 18 to number 0. He put the yin yang symbol in the middle of the “0” to represent the balance that he found in his life. He later raced the number “0” car with a skull and crossbones through the middle of the number.

In 2003 Scott competed full-time on the Xtreme Dirt Car Series formerly Hav-A-Tampa Series and won his 5th championship for the organization. 2004 he raced in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and won the season championship.

He was named the 2006 RPM Racing News driver of the year. That year he won The Dream ($100,000), Topless 100 ($45,000), Scorcher 100 ($20,000), Racefest ($20,000), Dixie Shootout ($15,000), and the Cedar Lake Nationals ($50,000). He also had nine wins in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

Bloomquist returned to series racing and won the 2009 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship.

He returned to the series in 2010 defending his points championship. Bloomquist would be the series runner up for 2011 scoring 15 victories. He also scored combined earnings north of $272,000 for the year.

In 2016 he was the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion.

His 2019 season was delayed after injuries sustained in a street crash. He returned to action in June of 2019 with teammate Chris Madden and he had limited success while recovering from those wounds.

In 2020, Scott, teaming with Chris Madden, obtained sponsorship from Drydene, followed the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

2021 saw Bloomquist offering his ride to dirt modified standout Nick Hoffman of Moorseville, North Carolina after lingering medical issues rendered his piloting the Team Zero house car impossible.

2022 had Bloomquist driving a very limited schedule due to medical, specifically back issues. The 2023 race season was put on hold while Scott was scheduling back surgery.

In 2024, Bloomquist made his return to racing at the famed Eldora Speedway in the Terry Wolfenbarger owned Team Zero Chassis. Unfortunately, after contact with fellow racer Shannon Babb, Bloomquist would crash into the backstretch wall, causing unrepairable damage to the Team Zero car, and falling short of the opportunity to win his record 9th Dirt Late Model Dream.

In 2002, Bloomquist was in the second induction class of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in Union, Kentucky