A long 15 minutes

Richard Allen, veteran East Tennessee motorsports journalist with Motorsports Report:

I only began covering dirt racing in 2008, and of course, Scott was already well established as a major star. Having seen him a few times in pit areas, he came across as a bit intimidating to someone who had never interacted with him — an image he loved. I finally got up the nerve to ask if I could come to his shop to do a story and he graciously agreed. My dad and a friend who was a fan of his wanted to come along and he said he was fine with that, "as long as you don't have anyone who works for the government with you.”

When we pulled into the parking area of the shop, my dad said, "This won't last 15 minutes," and I agreed because Scott didn't really know me. But he was quite accommodating (and as it turned out, he was every time I interviewed him). The visit we thought would last 15 minutes carried on for more than two hours with him not only answering questions but showing us around the property. It was one of the best experiences I have had in racing.

Spaghetti sauce

David Allio, longtime standout photographer who shot decades of short track racing, including Dirt Late Models:

Details meant a lot to Scott. Details are the difference between winning and losing in racing. But Scott extended that same precision to other aspects of his life — especially cooking. He didn’t cook often, but when he did, he did it to superstar scale.

One evening in the early 1990s, after a photo session with his latest Dirt Late Model, we began a conversation regarding the evening meal. By then, we'd known each other and worked together for the better part of two decades. The topic of spaghetti sauce came up and I began to reminisce with him about how my Italian grandfather, Joseph Allio, handmade everything fresh in his sauce using home-grown ingredients, a knife for the various vegetables, and a meat grinder to crush the tomatoes to a tasty consistency. Scott thought that was pretty cool, so we headed to the local market and picked out fresh garlic, just the right onion, a bundle of basil, ripe Roma tomatoes and other “secret ingredients.”

As he began with his prep, he explained his process and where he changed the recipe to include influences from my grandfather. The details mattered. All of the flavorful ingredients had to be cut or grated or minced to an extremely fine scale.

“If the chunks are too big, it changes the flavor and one thing overpowers another. A flavorful balance is the best,” he said, chopping away for nearly an hour before he was satisfied. As Scott served up a piping hot plate of pasta with a newly-modified spaghetti sauce, he fully expected it to be the best ever tasted — better than before.

Just as in racing, Scott would listen to a variety of sources, evaluating and applying new information to his ever-expanding knowledge base. His competitive edge was dependent upon being the best at whatever was the task at hand, be it racing or spaghetti sauce. Scott always worked to excel as the very best.

On to the next one

Boom Briggs, veteran Late Model driver from Bear Lake, Pa.:

We were in the Hard Rock Casino one night in Tampa, Fla., and he run this machine up to a lot, a lot of money. I kept trying to hit the cash-out button and save him some money, and he said, “I know what I’m doing! I know this thing’s gonna keep on hitting.”

I said, “Scott, it’s time to get out.” But Scott, he’s going for it. And if you really think, whether it’s racing, the casinos, Scott was always going for it, always going for the big one.

He ended up leaving with zero and I said, “You’re a dumb ass.” But that didn’t even bother him. He just went on to the next one.

'Are we good?'

Randle Chupp, veteran Late Model crew chief, driver and racing consultant:

Me and Scott battled hard in 100-lap races all over the Southeast. Nobody battled harder. But what you have to understand is there’s only been contact on two different occasions over multiple, multiple years.

I was leading a race at Atomic and I ran into lapped traffic late in the race. And I was going to cruise around and take it easy, but Scott was behind me. When he saw me getting trapped in traffic, he busted me in the tail to let me know I can’t just cruise around.

The very next week at Bulls Gap, he’s leading late in the race, and as soon as I got to him, I hit him in the bumper because he was cruising around, too. A couple weeks after, he asked me, “Hey, are we good?” I said, “Yeah, what are you talking about? I just enjoy racing you.” That was me and Scott. There was nothing like running close to him and having a chance to beat him because he wanted to dominate everything.

Some of my best friends are Ronnie Johnson and Freddy Smith because of how clean we raced. But I have to give Scott just as much credit because he was such a great competitor and kept it clean.

Door-swapping

Jonathan Davenport, five-time World 100 winner and three-time Lucas Oil Series champion:

I think it was 2017. We were at East Alabama, and Scott had wrecked. He had a door laying there, and we were parked next to him. I asked him, “Can I have that door? I don’t have any collectibles like that and I’d like to have it.”

Scott said, and he said it in Scott’s voice, you know how he is: “The next time you win the World, I want the door off of that.” I’m like, “OK, deal.” Then he told me that was the door he won the World 100 with.

The next time I won the World 100 was in the Brewster Baker car in 2019. That night, I didn’t go over there to give it to him, and everyone was trying to buy the door or whatever. Knowing that’s the car we’d take to Knoxville and knowing Scott wanted the left door, I took it off and put another door on there so nothing is wrong with it.

I didn’t get to see him at Knoxville, so I gave it to him at Brownstown. I remember going in his hauler at Brownstown — I brought him the door up in his hauler — and remember seeing that door in quite a few pictures at his shop, the Brewster Baker door hanging in his shop. I haven’t thought about that since he passed away.

On the lake

Rick Eckert, former World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series champion and national touring regular:

Scott and I were friends. I had his cars for years. I worked out of his shop numerous times for a couple weeks at a time. One time we were there, and me and Brady Smith were there working on our cars.

Scott said, “Hey, we’re getting the boat out. We’re going to get it out.” So we hooked this boat up and took it out on the lake. It was Scott, Katrina, me, Brady, Vic Hill and Vic’s wife. We went out and rode around the lake.

We went kneeboarding, and he said, “Hey! We have to do this spin.” I told him I’d hardly ever been out on a boat. He was like, “I’ll show you!” And frick, he could actually spin around on this kneeboard. At the end of the day, he had us all doing it. We had a fun day that day.

Scott was actually a really good guy. At the racetrack, I think he just didn’t want to talk to a lot of people, so he acted different. But away from the racetrack, he was actually really fun to be around.

Generous spirit

Marshall Green, former national touring driver and Dirt Track World Champion:

In the late 1990s when I was driving the Warrior House Car on the Hav-A-Tampa Series, Scott got Warrior stuff and we were around each other a good bit. We weren’t best buddies, but we had mutual respect for each other and we were the only two Warrior cars in the pit area.

I was about fourth or fifth in the points at the time and I blew up two engines back-to-back. At the time, I didn’t have another engine with me. This was late in the season. The following night was a Hav-A-Tampa race at Paducah, Ky. Out of the blue, Scott comes over and says, “Hey, I hear you’re going home?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m out of motors.”

He said, “Well, you get your tires and fuel and you can race my car.” I raced his car and ran fourth in the Hav-A-Tampa race at Paducah that night. Of all the ways people would see Scott, you wouldn’t think he’d be the guy that’d help somebody out.

Then he told me a story how he was in a similar situation one time and he asked Jeff Purvis if he could borrow one of his race cars but Purvis turned him down. Scott said, “I know how that made me feel and I respect you enough to have that mess up your whole season.” I didn’t ask him that. He came to me and that was really special. A lot of people never saw that side of Scott. He always came across as that tough guy and had this image of intimidation. But really and truly, he was a nice guy.

Jumping the line

Gail Gruendler, former Bloomquist scorer and secretary for three years for Team Zero Chassis:

In 2014, we raced at Lakeside in Kansas City, Kan., one night and had a day or two before going to I-80 in Greenwood, Neb. We ate somewhere and the waitress was telling us about this water park that was nearby and they’d just opened up a new ride that was way high. You had to go up a couple hundred steps and ride in a raft down. And you had to have three people in it lined up by weight.

We got there late in the day of course — we were always late on everything — and there was a long line for just a single rider. So Scott and I were standing there while the rest of the guys were riding other water slides, and I’m talking to everybody and having a good time and Scott’s getting bored. He said, “Where’d you put our stuff? I’m gonna get $100 and I’m gonna see if anybody in the front of the line here will trade places with me.”

So he goes, and the workers are hollering out weights that they need — with the single riders, they’d take whatever weight they needed (for the right three-person combination). They’re hollering, “Two-thirty-five! Two-thirty-five!” Scott’s coming up the hill, and I’m hollering, “Scott, get up there! They need 235!” He goes right to the front of the line, keeps his hundred dollars, and gets on there. And I had to wait till the very end of the day to get on it.

And I thought: That is so typical Scott. Everything always worked out his way like that.

Helping Hommel

Mike Hayes, longtime Jimmy Owens merchandise seller:

I used to help Duayne Hommel (the former driver from Newport, Tenn., whose career was ended by a serious highway accident in 2003). He was No. 17, and Scott was like, “You gotta change that number and become your own identity. There’s too many guys that are No. 17. You need to be you.” So Scott helped him come up with the H2, and then it transformed into this barbed wire-looking H2, just bad-ass looking. Scott helped with that, too, and that gave Duayne his own identity. He was just so smart with stuff like that, the marketing side of it.

And I remember, Tony Wiggins (Bloomquist’s one-time right-hand man), telling us Scott thought so much of Duayne that, after Hommel’s accident, he just spent that whole week out on the lake fishing. It tore him up that bad.

Bloomquist and Vogler

Roby Helm, longtime announcer for the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series during some of Bloomquist’s best seasons:

Most of the time, I didn't socialize much while we were on the road because I would head back to the hotel right after the race to write and distribute press releases along with calculating points (hopefully before the sun came up). I would get a few hours sleep, and then load up to head to the next race.

One night at West Virginia Motor Speedway, we had a rainout. For me, it was like a rare night off, so I was invited to visit one of the local watering holes for the evening. I ended up riding with a group that included Scott. As the publicist for the series, I knew more about Scott than he knew about me — or so I thought. As the night went on, we got to know each other a little better. I learned a lot about Scott Bloomquist that night. I learned he loved airplanes and he loved music. I told Scott he reminded me a lot of late sprint and midget standout Rich Vogler, who I knew from my open-wheel racing days in the early 1980s. Rich was very intense at the racetrack, and used it to get in the heads of his competitors, like Scott did. Also like Scott, Rich Vogler loved airplanes and music.

Scott was taken aback by the comparison because he was a Rich Vogler fan. It was a memorable evening as we played rock and roll trivia on the ride back to the hotel and into the wee hours of the morning. Even though it was just a passing few hours in my 44-year career, it was an enjoyable time I’ll never forget. Until we meet again Scott, say hello to Rapid Rich for me.

'The damndest day'

Tommy Hicks, longtime crew chief for Scott Bloomquist racing:

We were going to Milan (Tenn.) Speedway for our Aug. 28, 2004, race on the World of Outlaws — the first year of the Dirty Dozen — and our truck caught on fire going down the road. As the truck’s burning down, we’re trying to save our stuff out of the trailer and traffic’s going by at 80 mph.

All we could save was the car, the jack, the lug wrench and four tires. I lost everything I had. There was nothing left of the truck but the frame rails. Brad Hall showed up with a flat, rollback trailer, so we loaded our stuff on the trailer while two people stayed with the motorhome because we had to get to the race. And we went to Milan and absolutely kicked their ass, won the race, put our car back on this little trailer and came home.

That was the damndest day I ever had in my life. And it rained all the way down the road on our way there. I was telling Scott, “We need to go home, there’s no way they’re racing.” But Scott never said a word.

We started dead last in the heat race and won it. He purposely ran second in the dash so he could start on the outside because he didn’t want to start on the inside pole. When they dropped the green flag, they never saw him. He was gone.

He took his helmet off after the race was over, looked at me while shaking his head, and said: “I don’t know what to say. I ain’t ever had a damn day like this.” If we hadn’t done that deal, we wouldn’t have won the championship. We won it by 13 points over Steve Francis. Ain’t nobody else could pull that off.

A memorable compliment

Robert Holman, veteran Dirt Late Model journalist and communications lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro:

Though I first saw him race in 1988, the first time I met Scott was in ’91 or ’92 on a Sunday afternoon at Volunteer Speedway. I was writing for The Racing News. I can’t remember if he won or not, but I remember him looping his car in turn two during the feature, so I had to go ask him about it.

What I remember most however is that he came out of his truck wearing a T-shirt touting the English rock band The Cure — not something you’d typically see at the dirt track. In a world of Travis Tritts and George Straits, Scott Bloomquist was, fittingly, The Cure.

Through the years I was fortunate enough to sit and chat with him on his front porch in Mooresburg, Tenn., as well as visit with him in his hauler after races, including the first Eldora Million. I went from a hater to an awestruck young writer to a fan to a professional writer capable of standing there and talking strictly racing with the best in the business.

When I went to his house in 1998 for a story, we sat down and, after my third question, he looked at me and said, “Man, you really did your homework.” That was pre-Google, and arguably the biggest compliment I’ve ever received in my 32 years in the industry.

Photograph to remember

Ritchie Lewis, longtime Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series official and later Lucas Oil Series director:

Of all the autographs that guy gave, he only asked for one autograph. And he asked for my autograph on this picture of me and him, face-to-face, of a situation where we threw him out at Bristol.

We told him: Do not cross the clock on your cool-down lap after you qualify. You have to come in. You have to make that turn in. And he didn’t, so I had to throw him out. Obviously he was upset. Some photographer got a picture of him all in my face, and I was all in his face. I mean, our breath was meeting one another.

He got a copy of that picture somehow and kept it in the bathroom at his shop. Every offseason we’d go and visit other competitors’ race shops. “I have one favor to ask of you,” he said. “I need you to sign this picture for me.” And he went into this whole deal about how many autographs he’s given but never himself asks for autographs. He said: “I’m going to make an exception.”

So I autographed that picture. And, man, what I’d give to have that photo. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody but me. All Scott ever asked of me as technical director was to keep everybody equal because he felt like if things were fair and even that he could make up the rest with his talent.

He never asked me to cheat for him. People say, “Oh, you’re letting him getting away with this and that.” No, that wasn’t the case. At the end of the day, all he asked was, “Hey, keep things even. If you keep us even, then I got this.” That was a really cool perspective. His record spoke for it.

Keep on truckin'

Chris Madden, multitime crown jewel winner who drove Bloomquist cars for many seasons:

One time, he called me and he had to go to Cedar Lake. His truck driver had quit. I don’t know what time of year it was, but he was running for the points championship at the time. I forget when it was — it was either around a holiday or my wife’s birthday or something or in the early 2000s — and he called me saying, “I need some help. I need a truck driver. If you drive my truck for me, I’ll let you drive my backup car. We’ll run first and second.”

I said, “I’ll do it, Scott. But you’re going to have to tell my wife what we’re doing here.” I remember having to leave my shop right then and pack my bag and hit the road. I’ll never forget that.

We did it, and ending up running first and second in that race. I forget which race that was. It wasn’t the USA Nationals or anything. Tommy Hicks had to work on both cars. Not many people know about that story.”

Bedtime for Ariel

Mike Marlar, veteran racer and former World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series champion:

One thing that really impressed with him is when I started driving his cars, I went over to his shop one evening in 2013 to get some parts. It was just me and my wife Stacy. I got the tour of the compound and all his dad’s planes, and all that stuff.

But what impressed me more than anything was Scott and I leaned over the bed of the pickup truck talking about racing stuff. He realized what time it was and that he needed to put his daughter Ariel to bed. He put her to bed that night. At the time, she was probably 10, I’m guessing.

You could tell there was definitely a softer side of him that most people would’ve never known. I saw him being a dad to Ariel. I was very impressed with how he was a dad to her in that moment. I just remember that being something I’ll never forget.

I saw cool airplanes and hot rods and race cars, and all this cool stuff. But on my way home driving back, that’s what stuck out in my mind: He needed to drop everything and go put her to bed when it was time for her to go to bed.

'I don't belong here'

Keith Masters, co-founder of MasterSbilt Race Cars in Crothersville, Ind., who had Bloomquist in his house car for multiple seasons:

This is a memory of my first encounter with Scott. He truly was one of, if not the best, to ever drive a Dirt Late Model.

If memory serves me, it was 1983 at Atomic Speedway near Knoxville, Tenn., when I first met Scott and watched him race. I knew at that moment: he was different and was going to be a force to be reckoned with. After talking, we teamed up for the next few years. Then came 1988.

Scott made his first ever trek to Eldora Speedway for his first World 100. After seeing more than 200 cars in the pit area, I saw the uncertainty creeping in. He said to me: “This is a hornet’s nest and I don’t belong here." He was ready to load and go home.

I told Scott to just look at this track like a couple of other tracks he ran. Ultimately he stayed, won the race — and the rest is history.

Beating the invert

Danny Myers, longtime crew chief for Scott Bloomquist Racing:

My favorite Scott memory is the 2001 World 100. The way Earl Baltes ran the program then was no hot-lapping, just one qualifying lap with an option for a second lap after all 200-plus cars had qualified. The heat race lineups were always a six-car invert.

After the Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark., Scott and I practiced mock qualifying runs to figure out how to beat the invert and get a better starting spot in the heat race. We figured out at what point coming off turn four that I would drop my arm signaling to him to pop the car out of gear so he would not have fast time and get buried in the invert.

This was before they had the scoreboard showing the time, so it all had to be timed with my handheld stopwatch. We pulled it off and Scott started third in the third heat and ninth in the feature going on to win his third World 100 breaking an 11-year dry spell.

Earl had figured out what we’d done and told Scott there would be no more of that happening and no more six-car heat inverts. The Wheel of Misfortune arrived the following year. What makes this story great is how we outsmarted Earl and ended up changing the format for the World 100.

Pushing for greatness

Gerald Newton, executive vice president of operations at Arizona Sport Shirts who met Bloomquist in 1985 to begin a life-long career providing his T-shirts and merchandise:

I can remember vividly coming to work one morning in 1997, seeing a motorhome in the lot in front of our shop. Not long after, Scott appeared wearing his native American-tasseled jacket. Little did I know this was the day the No. 18 would go away forever as he told me his plans for the Zero. It never ends, he said, just like Scott, to me, will never end. Scott once told me: “Sometimes it's better to just listen. Then think hard before you speak. So on that note, there was much discussion that day, memories that I will always have that is between us and are cherished.

As for T-shirts, I made his first and I’ll make his last. Scott would always push and push and push the envelope with me. But he did it like a knife on a grinding wheel to sharpen my skills. There's zero doubt — no pun intended — that without him, there racing world souvenir business would not be where it is now because of his willingness to give it the time it needed and the care it needed.

I've said many times that Scott was first my best friend (like an older brother), second my racing hero, third a business associate and fourth a racing partner that was there in the beginning to push me, help me, advise me and so much more. As long as I live, no one will fill the void. Godspeed!

Man's best friend

Bruce Nunnally, owner of Brucebilt Performance in Knoxville, Tenn., and Bloomquist’s first partner in Bloomquist Race Cars:

The first thing that comes to mind for me when I think about Scott is my two Jack Russell (terrier dogs) that he bought for me. Scott had a Jack Russell and thought that I needed one as well, and he came in the shop one day with two of them and told me to sit down on the floor so I did. So he set the two Jack Russells on the floor and Mattie came running over and jumped on my lap. He said, “It’s meant to be. That’s your dog!” Then he handed the dog guy $150 and the other dog.

Mattie was great, but unfortunately nearly nine years later we had a tragic accident and Mattie died. I was devastated, because Mattie went everywhere with me. When I was able to get back to work, Scott came into the shop and brought me Marty, my second Jack Russell. He said he knew that I was in a lot of pain and that he was afraid I wouldn’t even be able to focus to drive safely. With all the racing and everything else, this has for a long time been my first thought of Scott.

Watch your mouth

Jimmy Owens, four-time Lucas Oil Series champion who piloted Bloomquist cars for many years:

One of my best memories is Winchester (Va.) Speedway in September 2011. I passed him for the lead and he shoved me down into an itty bitty puddle of water. We kind of slid up the track, and he went into the next corner and braked checked me going into the corner. That was pretty big.

Scott won it and broke my radiator that night to win. Chris Fox, my cousin and crew chief, he was angry and ripped his shirt off. Nathan, my son who was probably 5 at the time, was telling his mom, Melissa, all about it. Nathan said: “Everybody was arguing, and Uncle Chris got mad and said, ‘S---!”

Melissa wasn’t happy he said “S---.” My little boy was like, “I didn’t say s--- momma. Chris said it!’ It was fun listening to them argue like that. That’s the race that stood out to me the most. It was just cool to be battling it out with him.

Divine intervention

Mark Richards, co-owner of Rocket Chassis and longtime campaigner of the Rocket Chassis house car:

Scott was trying to form the original Dirty Dozen in 1996, and Timmy Hitt had just beat him at Pittsburgh that year in our car. So after we won that race, Scott called me and said, “Hey, I want you and Timmy to be in the Dirty Dozen. I wanna talk to you at Gaffney.”

So we go and talk to him at Gaffney during the 1996 Blue-Gray 100. He wanted us to come over to his camper parked up on the hill, and he told us the plan that he had. We get done, and we hadn’t made the race because that’s the one where Timmy flew out of the track in a heat race, but Scott had to get down there to get started. When we got out of the camper I said to him, “Hey, good luck today.” And he said, “I don’t need no luck. I’m gonna win.” I said, “Oh yeah?” And he said, “God come to me this morning and told me that I’m gonna win.”

Well, Rick Aukland was leading the race and it was rubbered as hard as anything was rubbered. You couldn’t pass nobody if you wanted to … and Bloomquist pulled out of the rubber and passed him and won the race.

I talked to Barry (Wright) the next day and I told him what Scott had told me, and he said, “He told me the same thing.” Barry said he asked him, “What tires you want on the car?” and Scott said, “It don’t matter because God told me we’re gonna win the race and it don’t matter what tires are on it.”

Pretzel twist

Joel Rogers, Rocket Chassis house car crew member:

This was at Portsmouth (during the Dirt Track World Championship) when they did the throwback cars and Scott had his No. 18. Of course, I think Scott rolled in late so they just pulled in beside us because we were on the end, and the last night he’s just over there grinding his tires and I walk out of the truck and I had a bag full of pretzels. I looked over at him and he looked up at me, and I said, “Hell, you want a pretzel?” He said, “Why not? Bring ‘em on over here,” and then we just talked for a while.

That was like my first time I ever had an actual conversation with him. I was intimidated by him at first — he was the most bad-ass race car there is in my book — and that broke the ice, that bag of pretzels. He’d always talk to me after that.

Outrunning a Hall of Famer

Gregg Satterlee, veteran racer and national touring winner from Indiana, Pa.:

I was fortunate to run the Lucas Oil Series those few years that he was doing it as well. You saw all sort of stuff that you had to see it to believe it type stuff.

But the race at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway in 2016, I think he led most of the race. We started on the front row side by side, and he got the lead while I ran second and third most of the race. I got into second on a late restart. I remember chasing him down going as hard as I could, and thinking, I’m going to give this all I got here.

We came around for the white flag, and at the point, he was still a ways in front of me, so I didn’t think I could pass him. He was in the middle of lapped cars and slipped up a little, and then I remember passing him so easily I did a double-take to my right, “Like, I just passed him that quickly?” I was going down the backstretch thinking, Don’t screw this last corner up. Scott’s right on my back bumper.

Luckily we made a good, smooth last lap. He came up to me and shook my hand, and told me good job. He didn’t seem like he was a sore loser, at least that night. I appreciated that. That was a big night for us.

Feeling the pressure

Rick Schwallie, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series director:

The story I remember is my first go-around as race director. It was at Dixie Speedway (in 2008). When Scott and Jimmy Owens were racing for the lead and they got together in turns one and two and spun out, I go, “Yellow!” and I charged them both with the caution and put them both to the rear.

Then Scott wanted to see a video afterwards because he said he technically didn’t stop, and he wanted my neck that weekend. He said there was no reason why I should ever race-direct again — and I didn’t for quite some time. A couple years later I think Ritchie (Lewis) was moving and wasn’t able to go to 34 Raceway so I race-directed that night, and Scott was at the drivers’ meeting and it was at that moment he realized, “Ritchie ain’t here so you’re doing it, huh?”

So that was my very first time race-directing. It was also our season finale, so I had to live with that all winter long. I had all that turmoil with how he thought I took that win away from him.

By a whisker

Clint Smith, former Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series champ and World of Outlaws regular:

When I met Scott around 1989 or '90, we became friends. Then in 1993, I was in my early 20s, he wanted to take me to Australia in his USA team he was putting together. He wanted somebody to get along with because you had to live with people for a couple months over there.

He said: If you can win you a championship to justify yourself, you can come with me to Australia. I won the Southern All Stars championship that year in 1993, so we went to Australia.

He showed me this spaghetti recipe while we were there with Paul Newman’s Sockarooni Pasta Sauce. We’d cut fresh garlic and make this spaghetti over there. I still use that recipe to this day, and when I make it, I think about our time together. Actually I had it the other day.

Also, when we were over there living together, he taught me how to shave. “You’re supposed to shave with the grain and not against the grain,” he’d say. That day on, that’s how I shave. He’d always tell the story at the racetrack: “Me and Cat are pretty tight. I taught him how to shave.”

There was this other side to this guy that was bigger than life around here racing. He was this regular ol' guy that’d want to hang out and wanted to show you how to shave and make spaghetti. But being on the USA team with him, Charlie Swartz and Steve Francis put me in another status in racing that not many people got to do. Us four were a good team.

Just in time

Gary Stuhler, Hall of Famer and all-time winningest Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway driver:

One year at the Pittsburgher, he didn’t come the night before when everyone was practicing. The very next day, when we practiced and qualified, he showed up late and didn’t even get hot laps in. He unloads as the last car in line and goes out and sets fast time.

I don’t know if he won that year, but it any time he was in the Pittsburgher, he either won or was in the top three. That was one thing that was crazy. The rest of us were there all night long, like on Thursday and Friday for practice, and then we’d come back Saturday and see Bloomquist rolling in.

“Oh, there’s Bloomer!” we’d say. He’d unload and rush to get in line, and then set fast time. That’s the kind of stuff he’d do. I know everyone got on him for being late all the time, but when he showed up, he was prepared. That part was crazy. Any time you were around him, there was always some weird story. He was a little different, but he was fun to talk to.

Where's the urinal?

Jerri Stuhler, wife of Hall of Fame driver Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa.:

We were at a restaurant one night after the World Finals at Charlotte and Scott came over and started talking to Gary. Gary wanted me to take their picture so I did, and then I went to the bathroom and left them there. I came out of the stall and was washing my hands and I went to turn around and there’s freakin’ Scott Bloomquist in the freakin’ ladies’ bathroom. Scott’s like, “Hey!”

I said, “Scott, you know this is the ladies’ room?” He’s like, “Oh, I know,” but he had two girls on each side of him and I was literally just rolling. I laughed the whole way back to the table. And he just laughed. He was just so nonchalant. These girls wanted him to go in the bathroom as a joke and he just did it.

Blessed invitation

Wendell Wallace, Hall of Fame driver from Batesville, Ark., who raced with Bloomquist on multiple series:

I don’t remember how it all came about, but Scott calling me about the Dirty Dozen deal to run the World of Outlaws in 2004 was special. He called me wanting to set up a meeting at his house to talk about forming the Dirty Dozen. So we all met at his house and wanted to put that deal together.

I think there was a little friction at the time with him and Hav-A-Tampa. He was almost trying to put his own deal together, I felt like. Scott basically wanted to recruit the best Dirt Late Model drivers of that time and wanted to put on a show around the country at all these different tracks. I was honored that he thought of me to be part of that deal.

Into the wee hours

Danny White, Rocket Chassis house car crew chief:

I was working for Rick Eckert at the time, I think it was 2012, and we had Bloomquist cars, and we were down south and Rick’s like, “We’re just gonna go work at Scott’s shop for a couple days.”

We were working where Shane McDowell’s shop is now, and we did, like, our normal routine, worked our normal hours. Scott always had crazy hours — he’d start 3 in the afternoon and work all night — so Rick just told him, “We’ll do our own thing.”

Well, one day, we had worked all day and it was like 10 o’clock at night. I’m ready for bed, and all of a sudden Scott’s like, “Hey, we need to scale this car.” We’re like, “OK,” so we get it up to the area he wants to scale it in and we’ve got the rear tires on the scales and I’m trying to jack the front up, doing it the same way we’ve done it at Eckert’s shop for a couple years, and I’m like one pump away and he says, “Hey sonny, that’s not how we jack up a car here.” And when I go to grab another pump, he stops me: “Sonny, that’s not how we do it. Set the car back down and put the jack over here.”

I was mad, I was red, I was ready to lose it, but I jacked it up from the side rather than the front like he wanted, and finally, it’s like close to midnight, and we’re done. And then Scott’s standing there, and he kind of looks over, and he’s got a car that’s like three-quarters of the way together, and he goes, “You know, this is a spot I normally don’t scale cars. I normally scale ‘em where that car is sitting. I’m gonna go ahead and finish that car and get it loaded and then we’re gonna take your car over there and rescale it.”

I look at this Eckert and he’s like, “I guess that’s what we’re doing.” So it was like 2 or 3 in the morning when we finally get done scaling the car.

Drag racer?

Barry Wright, legendary chassis builder who worked with Bloomquist from 1993-97:

One time we stayed at the motel in Parkersburg, W.Va., when we was running Pennsboro. We got up early that Sunday morning and he had a Cadillac. It was supposed to be one of the faster ones, so we’re going over there to Pennsboro and running about 80 mph and a dang little ‘ol truck pulls up beside us, one of them spider trucks, and it had a big six (cylinder engine) in it.

“That son of a gun is wanting to race,” Scott said. Suddenly he put it to the floor. Well, I’m over there sticking my foot through the firewall because we were running a 120 mph.

Then that truck went by us … I don’t know how fast he was going. Scott said, I’m gonna lay off. I ain’t going to jail today.

Editor's note: Anecdotes gathered by Kyle McFadden and Kevin Kovac and compiled by Todd Turner.