Scott Bloomquist
*Interview provided by Kris Krug of Knoxville Raceway
Last year’s Knoxville Nationals at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway proved to be a storybook ending for everyone except Scott Bloomquist. The Mooresville, Tenn. driver appeared to be on his way to yet another crown jewel victory when his car faltered in the last turn of the last lap allowing home state driver Brian Birkhofer to pass by and take the checkered flag in what he declared to be his final start behind the wheel of a race car.
Bloomquist is not one to linger on the past, and the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member has put that race behind him.
“We’ve already moved on and forgot about it,” Bloomquist declared in an interview for InsideDirtRacing.com. “That’s water under the bridge. We’ve got to come back and do it again because it doesn’t matter what you did last year. It was a shame last year to break on the last lap, but you’ve just got to carry on.”
No matter how the 2014 race may have turned out, Bloomquist loves this track and looks forward to racing on the black clay surface each time the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series ventures to the facility best known for sprint car racing.
Bloomquist loves strapping in at Knoxville
“I’ve always liked the fast race tracks and this place gets so slick and there’s more than one groove to run,” the 51-year-old driver explained. “You can find a place that your car’s going to work on this track. You’ll have to move around a lot during the race, but there’s two and three wide racing here and you can’t ask for more than that.”
Since he enjoys the Knoxville Raceway so much, would Bloomquist like to see more Late Model races contested there?
“If they could pull off a race early in the year, but you wouldn’t want them too close together,” he answered. “It would depend on what kind of winters they had up here. If they could get something together for early in the year I think it would be good to come up here twice a year. It could be kind of like the Dream and the World(at Eldora Speedway).”
Bloomquist raves about the track and compares it to one that previously hosted Late Models on special occasions.
“There’s really not a better facility for our sport other than when we went to Bristol, that was pretty amazing. Here and Eldora, they keep on improving these places. It would great to have some more places like these.”
