Race car driver Scott Bloomquist remembered after plane crash in Tennessee

Scott Bloomquist, a dirt track racer known for his bravery and among the best in his sport, died Friday in a plane crash at his family's farm in Mooresburg, Tennessee, friends and local officials said.

Bloomquist, 60, was known for his long hair and a race car emblazoned with the number zero and a skull and crossbones. He was also known for his victories.

Jerry Caldwell, president and manager of Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, said Friday that Bloomquist is “arguably the best dirt late model racer in the history of the sport.”

In another tribute, fellow racing driver Tony Stewart said Bloomquist was “probably the smartest guy I've ever met in dirt racing.”

“What he could accomplish behind the wheel of a race car was surpassed by the ingenuity he put into building his race cars,” Stewart wrote on social media. “He was a force on and off the track, with a personality as big as his list of accomplishments.”

The plane Bloomquist was flying crashed into a barn, and the remains of the sole occupant are believed to be 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 in its investigation into the Piper J3C-65 crash.

Reid Millard, a fellow racer and funeral director in Missouri, said on Facebook that Bloomquist's mother had asked him to announce the death. “Along with Scott's daughter Ariel, his parents, his sister and along with everyone who knew and loved Scott – you are in our hearts and prayers,” Millard wrote.

In dirt track racing, drivers must steer right to make the car turn left. When cornering, the left front tire comes off the track and the left rear tire provides traction.

The cars weigh about 2,300 pounds and have over 800 horsepower. At Eldora Speedway, Stewart's race track in Ohio, the cars reach top speeds of about 150 miles per hour.

The vehicles have two-speed transmissions and no windshields, just short plastic shields to protect the driver from rocks. It can be a tough contact sport.

“Rubbing is racing,” said Gerald Newton, president of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “It's door to door. You're hurling it sideways and throwing dirt.”

Bloomquist was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. Newton said Bloomquist was like an older brother to him and has known the racer for nearly 40 years. As senior vice president at Arizona Sport Shirts, he also designed Bloomquist's official merchandise.

Bloomquist was born in Iowa and later lived in California, where his father worked as a pilot, Newton said. The family wanted to move east and bought the farm in Tennessee.

Newtown said Bloomquist got into racing through a car his father bought, but he soon lost interest in it and passed it on to his son.

“He worked for the people, made a little money to buy a tire and win a race,” Newton said. “He took the money and invested it in the team. The rest is history.”

Besides winning, Bloomquist also became known as a cocky and bad boy, Newton said, with his personality based on the skull and crossbones painted in the zero on his race car.

In 2000, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that Bloomquist “looks like Tom Cruise, drives like Dale Earnhardt and talks like Darrell Waltrip.”

Waltrip was a NASCAR driver who annoyed his competitors by beating them on the track and then keeping his mouth shut from the car.

“He always told me that it's not boasting or showing off if it's facts and you can back it up,” Newton said of Bloomquist. “And he did.”

Newtown said Bloomquist's accolades “will never be surpassed.”

“The world has lost a great racer, a great friend and a great father,” Newton said. “And heaven has gained a great angel.”

Like many other drivers in the sport, Bloomquist suffered various injuries over the years, but he continued to race and planned to compete in the World 100 at Eldora Speedway next month.

“He still felt like he could win a race,” Newton said.

Photo: Scott Bloomquist at the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals in 2022. (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File)

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