Plane Crash Claims Dirt Late Model Legend Bloomquist

Scott Bloomquist (Jacy Norgaard photo)

MOORESBURG, Tenn. – Perhaps the best to ever strap into a dirt late model, Hall of Fame legend Scott Bloomquist was killed in a plane crash near his home early Friday morning.

Bloomquist was 60 years old.

Local authorities confirmed the news to the Rogersville Review just after 8:30 a.m. ET, describing the tragedy as a “small aircraft crash” near Bloomquist’s family farm in Mooresburg, a small community in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

Bloomquist and his father shared a love for flying vintage airplanes, and their collection was showcased in the FloRacing Road to Eldora video series in 2022.

Missouri racer Reid Millard, a funeral director and close friend of the dirt late model icon, later shared the news via a Facebook post after receiving a call from Bloomquist’s mother, Georgie.

Originally from Fort Dodge, Iowa, Bloomquist was one of dirt racing’s most polarizing drivers, known for his No. 0 entries stylized with a skull and crossbones in the center of the number.

He won nine national titles in a career that spanned parts of five decades, including the inaugural “modern-era” World of Outlaws Late Model Series crown in 2004 and three Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championships – the most recent of which came in 2016.

On his rise to national stardom, Bloomquist captured a pair of UMP Summer Nationals “Hell Tour” titles in 1990 and 1991, and later added five championships in the now-defunct UDTRA Hav-A-Tampa Series (1994-’95, ’98, 2000, ’03), the last of which came under the Xtreme DIRTcar Series banner.

Nationally, Bloomquist was a winner of 94 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series features and 33 with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, and 43 of his more than 600 career victories paid out a winner’s share of $30,000 or more.

Outside of Tennessee, perhaps Bloomquist’s most legendary stomping ground was the half-mile Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, where he won the track’s crown jewel Dirt Late Model Dream eight times. He added four victories in Eldora’s fall classic, the World 100, for a total of 12 marquee wins there.

Though Bloomquist dabbled in stock cars early, making three ARCA Menards Series starts in 1991, he never finished any of those races and quickly returned to his love of dirt late model racing.

He did, however, compete with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2013 during the inaugural running of the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora, driving a Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports and finishing 25th.

Bloomquist raced sparingly in recent years, following a long recovery from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash in 2019. He’d also endured a prostate cancer diagnosis last June, an injured foot before Eldora’s Dirt Track World Championship in October, and an allergic reaction from a horsefly bite which put him in the hospital in mid-June, just days after a scary flip during Eldora’s Dream XXX.

He was inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame as part of the Union, Ky., museum’s second class in 2002, and also owned Team Zero Race Cars, a wildly successful chassis business supplying some of the top dirt late model teams around the country.

Some of Bloomquist’s iconic nicknames through the years included “Bloomer,” the “Voodoo Child,” and “Black Sunshine”.

His final start came during the prestigious USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., on Aug. 3. Bloomquist is survived by his parents, Ron and Georgie, daughter Ariel, and a sister.

“Scott Bloomquist’s legendary status not only grew out of his accomplishments on track, but his innovations throughout the dirt late model industry,” noted World Racing Group CEO Brian Carter in a statement Friday morning. “He played a key role with DIRTcar Racing and the World of Outlaws, helping to rebuild the World of Outlaws Late Model [Series] so it could grow into what it has become today.

“His influences also helped the evolution of racetracks and chassis over the years, and his passion for the sport and innovative mind will be deeply missed by all.”

Race Face Digital will provide further updates as additional details are made available to the public.