Scott Bloomquist
To virtually every dirt racing driver in the country, a season that included a double-digit number of total wins, a 3rd place finish in the final standings of a national touring series, and five Crown Jewel victories would be considered a smashing success. Scott Bloomquist was pleased to enjoy just such a season in 2014, but the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member also felt as if there were opportunities to experience even more success.
“We had a decent start,” Bloomquist said of the early part of his recently completed season. “We were setting fast times and winning our heat races then we were firing off in the features, but we were fading a little bit in the races. We had a few things that we finally found. We got those problems fixed and were able to follow through for the rest of the year.”
Bloomquist admitted that having such a good car but failing to capitalize was frustrating early in the season. However, that frustration brought about even more determination to succeed as the year went on.
“It’s very frustrating because there’s nothing worse than taking off early and leading shows then getting passed because you’re fading at the end of a race. It definitely makes you more determined to be sure you don’t have any more of those. You’ve got to get to work and work harder.”
That hard work resulted in wins in some of the sport’s richest and most prized events. Bloomquist won a total of five races that paid at least $20,000 to the victor in 2014. Those wins included the $30,000-to-win Silver Dollar Nationals at the I-80 Speedway in Nebraska, the $50,000-to-win Dirt Track World Championship at the Portsmouth Raceway Park in Ohio and the ultra prestigious World 100 at Eldroa Speedway in Ohio.
Scott Bloomquist won some of dirt racing’s biggest prizes in 2014.
The Mooresburg, Tenn. driver isn’t resting on his laurels. The guiding force behind the Sweet-Bloomquist Race Car is already in the planning stage for the 2015 season.
“We’ll definitely run all the televised races and all the bigger shows like we always do,” the driver who turns 51 on November 14 explained. “We could end up running the points next year(for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series). We really could have won it this year but we missed the first race and had a number of DNF’s early on. I think we could come back next year and have a pretty good time with it.”
And what’s the motivation for the driver who has accumulated more than 700 feature wins over the course of his career?
“Winning never gets old, that’s for sure. We’re already looking forward to next year.”
