Dirt track legend Scott Bloomquist remembered at Smoky Mountain Speedway

Dirt track legend Scott Bloomquist remembered at Smoky Mountain Speedway

Scott Bloomquist died Friday after police said he was involved in a single plane crash on his family’s Hawkins County farm.

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – One of dirt track racing’s most polarizing figures was Scott Bloomquist, but despite how polarizing he was, he brought fans to the track.

 

“When Scott Bloomquist came, I mean he was definitely the talk of the show, be it good, bad or ugly, Scott was always involved with it,” said Roger Sellers, owner of Smoky Mountain Speedway.

 

Police and friends said Bloomquist died Friday, after crashing a plane he was piloting, on his family farm in Hawkins County.

 

“I was in absolute shock, I guess you never expect to hear that news on anyone, but he was one of the greats,” said Smoky Mountain Speedway General Manager Casey Moses.

Moses and her father gathered at Smoky Mountain Speedway Friday, getting the track ready for a race there the next weekend.

 

The duo had been in the same location a number of times when Bloomquist was behind the wheel of a late model dirt car, circling the historic track.

 

“Everybody that’s gotten into dirt late model racing or racing in general knows the name Scott Bloomquist,” Moses said.

 

He didn’t make friends with many. Bloomquist lived what Chris Corum calls a Rockstar life and for some, it didn’t endear the driver to them.

 

“He lived a Rockstar life, absolutely, and like a lot of Rockstars, he had his challenges certainly, but man I’ll tell you that guy was, like I said, a polarizing figure that will never be forgotten,” said Corum.

 

Corum met Bloomquist in the 1980s, at the time late model dirt car racing wasn’t made up of many young men like Corum and Bloomquist.

 

Corum told WVLT News it was the ingenuity and quick thinking that put Bloomquist above almost all others.

 

“His stuff always looked nice and tight. His body of the race car was just and he just thought on a different level than most people that raced dirt late models, and he was an innovator, he tried things a lot of people didn’t think of trying,” Corum said. “Almost in a rocket ship stand point and that allowed him to get ahead of the competition in a lot of ways.”

 

Moses called Bloomquist a rule pusher, someone who would find the line and push it to get the upper edge.

 

“He helped several safety rules, he helped several series in the area actually, I think he helped World of Outlaws trying to get their rules straightened out, he had the Bloomquist chassis and also raced as well,” said Moses. “But he actually, some of the reasons these rules are made are because of Scott Bloomquist. I think he was one who was a rule breaker, or a rule pusher I guess, so if we had rules set he would push the mark to where, ‘I know you said this but what did you mean exactly,’ and make you tighten up your rules.”

 

The term G.O.A.T., greatest of all time, is one reserved for Bloomquist.

 

“More Dale Earnhardt honestly, he was a legend he was, they called him the goat, the greatest of all time, and he really proved to be one you know,” Sellers said.

 

A man who received cheers and boos no matter where he went but one that made an impact of a community of racers.

 

“There’s no one who can ever fill those shoes or say they accomplished that much, he’s an idol basically,” said Moses. ”There’s a huge hole in the sport, you’ve lost someone who is a staple in Tennessee for sure.”

 

“He’s one of our own. He’s an East Tennessee guy and we were really always proud of Jimmy Owens and Scott Bloomquist when we heard they’d done good nationally,” Corum said.