Fast Talk presented by MD3 and Five Star Bodies
Fast Talk: Bloomquist's enduring mark on sport
With the Dirt Late Model world rocked by the death of legendary driver Scott Bloomquist, our roundtable discusses the driver many consider to the best of all time in the weekly feature presented by MD3 and Five Star Race Cars Bodies (edited for clarity and length):
Did anything about the sport’s reaction to Scott Bloomquist’s death surprise you?
Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt.com senior writer: Not really, at least from the tribute side. Everyone, no matter their thoughts of Bloomquist on and off the track, had to recognize his incredible career and stature in the sport and the words spoken and written about him proved how big he was. His name even trended nationally on social media for a period on Friday! He was an overwhelming figure, a driver who had an aura around him like no other, and, even though he was a diminished as a perennial winner since his motorcycle accident in March 2019, he still remained front-and-center in the Dirt Late Model world.
Todd Turner, DirtonDirt.com managing editor: Maybe the reality of the enormity of how he touched seemingly everyone in the sport (and many beyond it). I'm not sure I remember an outpouring of emotions on this scale, and I suppose that makes sense because his stature in the sport arguably is the most significant in my lifetime. That my wife Julie actually picked up the phone to call me when she heard says volumes. Personally, I'm a little depressed. Obviously we all feel for his family and those who loved him most, but this seems to have left a hole in all our hearts. When people say "there was no one like him," it's never truer than with Scott.
Kyle McFadden, DirtonDirt.com staff reporter: The most surprising part about Bloomquist’s death was, in fact, his death. It’s inconceivable, really. The chilling part is I received the news he died right after I landed on one of my flights en route to the Topless 100. Nothing really about the sport’s overall reaction surprises me. He is Bloomquist after all, the larger-than-life figure who’ll never be replicated again. If there was one thing that did slightly surprise me, it’d be how many of his fiercest competitors were emotionally in shambles. I’ll never forget Topless 100 weekend because of that. There was certainly a damper over the whole atmosphere. Everyone seemingly felt the loss Bloomquist.
Kelley Carlton, veteran series official: I think that maybe my senses had dulled to Scott’s stardom in the sport. Whether it was his on-track struggles the last several years or maybe it was just coming to know him as a person in my racing career, but somewhere along the way I'd forgotten just how big of a star Scott is. Scrolling through social media Friday and seeing literally hundreds of photos and personal stories of interactions with Scott coupled with the real raw emotions that came from colleagues and friends was truly sobering.
Share a single memorable personal episode you had with Bloomquist.
Turner: After his 2002 World 100 loss to Brian Birkhofer on the last lap, when Bloomquist questioned whether the white flag had waved twice or even if the race had been 101 laps, I interviewed him — along with a young Michael Rigsby — alongside his transporter long after most teams had left the Eldora Speedway infield. Without the glare of TV lights and with darkness over most of the facility, it wasn't one of those times he exuded his typical boldness and confidence. It was a brutal loss to take and it was also a rare time he admitted a mistake — that even if he thought the race was over he should've run one more lap (it's fitting his admission was based mostly on his specious argument that he truly thought he'd won). "It's my fault," a somber Bloomquist said, a simple statement contrasting his usual bluster.
McFadden: First off, I’m just fortunate to have covered him in my brief three seasons with DirtonDirt.com, a fraction of how long Kelley, Kevin and Todd have known him. But in my short time, especially recently, I’d talk with Bloomquist almost each time I’d see him. Watching him coach Garrett Smith to the 2022 DTWC title is a memory I’ll cherish. I also got to write about him quite a bit these last two years: At last year’s Speedweeks where he told me how hard life had gotten for him; last fall’s National 100 where he guided Richie Stevens to the event pole; last World Finals where he showed us he wasn’t dead yet as a driver; last year at PRI when he said he was putting off surgery to race this year; and this June when I called him to write why he’d been hospitalized after a bug bite. I’m just fortunate to have covered him as much as I had.
Carlton: Given my position in the racing industry I had many dealings with Scott. As you might guess, most weren’t a lot of fun. The one that sticks out to me the most was at Golden Isles for the 2007 Super Bowl of Racing. Scott started on the pole of the heat and I called him for jumping the start. Twice. Which sent him back a row. He finished 3rd in the heat and transferred but he was pissed. He came in the tower to voice his displeasure. I stood my ground and recommended that he not miss the drivers meeting so he would know that the flagman starts the race under the sanction’s rule package (Scott thought he started the race as polesitter). He came to the drivers' meeting the next day and needled me a bit with that Scott grin.
Kovac: I’ll never forget that time after a night of DIRTcar Nationals action at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., when his quirky buddy and business partner, Randy Sweet, came into Bloomquist’s trailer as we were talking, grabbed Bloomquist’s gator trophy and walked away hugging it. Scott was like, “What the hell?” and laughed his huge laugh, and then he started telling me about his and Sweet’s escapades earlier in the week when (among other things) they bought dozens of fish at a store and then released them in the pond outside the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. It was classic Bloomquist riffing about having wild fun, and I feel fortunate that he trusted me enough as a writer to let me behind his curtain a bit.
What was your favorite aspect of Bloomquist’s outsized personality? And your least favorite?
McFadden: To my point above, I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone more outwardly intimidating yet inwardly welcoming. He was so very welcoming toward a young reporter. Every time I saw him, I tried talking with him, even it was for a few minutes. He always made time. That’s what always struck me. It’s like he wanted you to see and know what he was thinking and experiencing, like what was going on in his world. His world, as we all know, was different than our world. But that’s also what many people claim as the least favorite part of his outsized personality. Scott knew his reality was polarizing. His controversial nature isn’t something I admired, but he sure made endless memories from that way of living.
Carlton: Without question Scott understood how important his fans were to his success. And he showed that time and again. As I mentioned above, think about how many people have taken photos with Scott or have some story of a personal moment or memory that they have with him. He never let his fame get in the way of his connection to his fan base. My least favorite was his penchant for tardiness. As a race director, I'm as much a time manager as anything else, and Scott could certainly push my buttons being late.
Turner: Antithetically, I think his unwavering confidence is the answer to both questions. To see someone who so believed he was the best and was going to win no matter was mindboggling. He could seemingly will things to happen and, even when the odds were monumentally stacked against him, somehow each of us allowed ourselves to believe that if it could be done, Bloomquist could do it. But that confidence occasionally wore thin when it devolved into implausibility or truth-stretching excuses. Like many drivers late in their career, coming to terms with when to hang up the helmet can be an excruciating decision. I'd have wished for a more graceful exit from competition than he had over the past several seasons.
Kovac: Like Todd mentioned, Bloomquist’s confidence was off the charts. He believed his abilities could overcome anything thrown at him and wasn’t afraid to make that fact clear with his comments and presence. Some could call it arrogance, but with Bloomquist it was part of his persona. He knew that some little things he said in an interview, or simply staying refraining from getting close to other drivers, would burrow under the skin of his rivals and get them thinking about him rather than their own program. He played that game with his perpetual tardiness, too, making everyone wonder how he could show up so late and still win. Of course, that type of organized chaos in which he thrived for so long was also a part of his personality that he probably needed to change later in his career — especially after the motorcycle crash — in order to outduel the sport’s young guns, but Scott Bloomquist was a guy who was always going to do it his way.
What’s a characterization of Bloomquist you’ve heard either before or after his death that you take issue with?
Kovac: That he was a cocky, self-absorbed person who didn’t care about others and could be hard to deal with. I think this idea came mostly from those who just saw the big, tough image he put off and didn’t attempt to talk to him. From my media member position, there’s one thing I can say about Scott Bloomquist: he never blew me off when I attempted to interview him. Like I wrote in a column about him, I might have to wait a while for him to talk about a race (and he wasn’t always the easiest to get ahold of away from the track), but he was unfailingly approachable and willing to answer any questions I had. If anyone claims that he was standoffish and unfriendly, I’ll gladly argue the opposite.
Carlton: Over the years Scott has been misrepresented as a dirty driver that would intentionally wreck guys or rough them up. I attribute a lot of that with the fact that everyone seems to hate a winner and Scott was definitely that. Over the years, I've seen and heard the haters chalk up the slightest of contact to that characterization. But I can say with great certainty, as will most of his rivals that Scott is one of the cleanest drivers there ever was on the track. It was rare to see Scott in on track tangles with others.
McFadden: That he was all about himself and never held others in mind. Did Bloomquist do things his way and rub people wrong along the way? Absolutely. But as we’ve all testified here, he always made time for not only us industry folks, but for the average fan, too, or just anybody who wanted a sliver of his time. Of all my years going to races as a spectator, before I got into dirt track reporting, I won’t lie in saying that I avoided talking with Bloomquist. I thought he’d blow me off or not make time for me. Besides, he was too intimidating to approach. I couldn’t round myself to that until I had to as a reporter. And I was proven so wrong.
Turner: Over the years, I've had plenty of folks much closer him than I ever was who'd argue, in so many words: Scott's just a normal guy if you truly get to know him away from the track. While I fully agree that his humanity meant he faced struggles just like the rest of us — Dave Argabright's blog so deftly examined that — it's a disservice to Bloomquist to label him normal. He was a genius. He created a marketing juggernaut. He had the highest confidence level I've ever seen. And he, as they said of Wayne Gretzky, skated to where the puck was going, not where it's been. We'll never see another one like him.
Pick another happening, result or upcoming event to discuss.
Carlton: I am pretty stoked to be headed for Lernerville Speedway this week to work the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event. The series has a great points battle going and we expect an eclectic field which will see guys like Jason Feger and Myles Moos make the eastward trek from Illinois. Plus, Lernerville is such a historic facility that always seems to produce great racing and excitement. This will be my first ever visit there so I am doubly enthusiastic about going there.
Kovac: In a weekend not dominated by Bloomquist’s passing, the return to victory lane of Tim McCreadie and the Rocket1 team would have gained even more attention. It’s a head-shaker that it took five months for the combination to get a win, but that shows just how difficult this sport is right now at its top level. I’ve felt that a veteran like McCreadie and Mark Richards’s well-established operation would have benefitted greatly from the day-after-day racing of Speedweeks to mesh faster than they have, so it’s been a slow process for them to get on the same page and T-Mac to become comfortable racing the iconic Rocket car as hard as it needs to be run. The way McCreadie mastered the high side throughout Saturday’s Topless 100 for a $50,000 triumph tells me that more checkered flags are coming to close 2024 for him and Rocket1.
McFadden: I’ll add to the resurgence of Rocket1 Racing and Tim McCreadie, which I saw firsthand at this weekend’s Topless 100. And have seen coming now for the last month, really since the Silver Dollar Nationals at Huset’s. I even wrote an article there foreshadowing that a win of some kind, perhaps a 100-lapper, was around the corner for Mark Richards and company. With their new line of XR1s and now fourth in the Lucas Oil Series, an argument could be made they have the most momentum on tour, especially as Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O’Neal continue navigating new teams. At least we have compelling on-track storylines to follow to cope with the depressing reality that Bloomquist is no longer with us.
Turner: I'll throw out an attaboy to Brian Shirley, the driver who often wears his emotions on his sleeve, and that makes it all the harder to watch when he's struggling. So it's nice to see him rewarded with a hot streak that puts him on a not-so-long list of drivers who've won three consecutive World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series events. He cooled the hot streak of his fellow Illinois driver Bobby Pierce, who none of us would've been surprised if he swept WoO's weekend in Illinois and Iowa.
