By BEN FINLEY
Scott Bloomquist, a dirt track race car driver who was known for his bravado and for being one of the sport’s best, died Friday in a plane crash on his family’s farm in Mooresburg, Tennessee, friends and local officials said.
Bloomquist, 60, stood out with his long hair and a race car that was emblazoned with the number zero and a skull and crossbones. He was also known for winning.
Jerry Caldwell, president and manager of Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, said Friday that Bloomquist was “arguably the greatest dirt late model racer in the sport’s history.”
In another tribute, fellow racer Tony Stewart said Bloomquist was “probably the smartest guy I’ve ever been around when it comes to dirt racing.”
“What he could do behind the wheel of a racecar was matched by the ingenuity he put into building his racecars,” Stewart wrote on social media. “He was a force on the track and off, with a personality as big as his list of accomplishments.”
The plane that Bloomquist was flying crashed into a barn, and the remains of its sole occupant are believed to be that of Bloomquist, the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The National Transportation Safety Board said in its own statement that it is coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the crash of the Piper J3C-65.
Reid Millard, a fellow race car driver and a funeral home director in Missouri, stated on Facebook that Bloomquist’s mother asked him to announce the death. “Along with Scott’s daughter Ariel his parents his sister and along with all of you who knew and loved Scott – you are in our hearts and prayers,” Millard wrote.
In dirt-track racing, drivers have to steer right for the car to go left. Going through turns, the front left tire comes off the track and the left rear tire provides traction.
The cars weigh about 2,300 pounds and supply 800-plus horsepower. At Eldora Speedway, the Ohio racetrack owned by Stewart, the cars reach top speeds of about 150 mph.
The vehicles have two-speed transmissions and no windshields, only short plastic shields to protect drivers from rocks. It can be a rough, contact sport.
“Rubbing is racing,” said Gerald Newton, president of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “It’s door to door. You’re slinging it sideways and slinging dirt.”
Bloomquist was in the 2002 class of the hall of fame. Newton said Bloomquist was like an older brother to him and had known the racer for nearly 40 years. He also designed Bloomquist’s official merchandize as senior vice president at Arizona Sport Shirts.
Bloomquist was born in Iowa and later lived in California, where his father worked as an airline pilot, Newton said. The family wanted to move east and purchased the farm in Tennessee.
Newtown said Bloomquist got into racing through a car that his father bought but soon lost interest in, passing it along to his son.
“He would do work for people, make a little bit of money to buy a tire, go win a race,” Newton said. “He’d take that money, reinvest in the team. The rest is history.”
Besides winning, Bloomquist became known for being co*cky and kind of a bad boy, Newton said. His persona was somewhat built around the skull that was painted inside the zero on his race car.
In the year 2000, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote Bloomquist “looks like Tom Cruise, drives like Dale Earnhardt and speaks out like Darrell Waltrip.”
Waltrip was a NASCAR driver who aggravated his competitors by beating them on the track and then running his mouth out of the car.
“He always told me it’s not boasting or bragging if it’s fact and you can back it up,” Newton said of Bloomquist. “And he did.”
Newtown said Bloomquist’s accolades “will never be exceeded.”
“The world has lost a great racer, a great friend, a great dad,” Newton said. “And heaven has gained a great angel.”
Like a lot of drivers in the sport, Bloomquist suffered various injuries over the years. But he was still racing and planned to compete in next month’s World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
“He still felt like he could win a race,” Newton said.
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