The world of professional sports is filled with classic Type A personalities, the control freaks who have to have their hands in everything and can trust no one. Think Bill Parcells in the NFL and Pat Riley in the NBA. Scott Bloomquist isn't like that. Then there are the drivers and athletes who take the other tact. They prefer to concentrate solely on what they do best and allow others, the crew chief and tire specialist, for example, to handle all the other details. There are plenty of successful people who fall into this camp, too, but Bloomquist isn't one of them, either.
Somehow, the Super Dirt Late Model driver and team owner manages to be both. He is famously hands-on, to the point of building his own chassis in order to get exactly what he wants, but he's also willing to give those select few he trusts vital roles in his operation and he allows them to do their jobs. It's an odd mix of obsessive compulsive and laid-back, but Bloomquist has made it work to the point that he's arguably the most successful and popular Dirt Late Model driver working today.
It's hard to imagine that...
It's hard to imagine that at just 42 years old, Bloomquist has been racing-and winning-for 25 years.
It's hard to imagine that at just 42 years old, Bloomquist has already been racing professionally for 25 years. The Dirtrax Dominator, as Bloomquist is known, has already claimed an astounding 460-plus wins, and the majority of those were big-time, big-money events. Winning that many races, of course, requires a refined skill set.
"As a driver," he says, "when the track gets slick is where I've always shined. There are other great drivers out there that are really good when the track gets slick, but I still think that is an area where I still have an edge. Plus, I've always felt I have a good feel for the car, and what it needs. You have to be able to tune the car both to be fast and to be comfortable for you to run, and I've been lucky I've always been able to do that."
Winning is what Bloomquist does best. A few years ago, he abandoned the idea of following a single series and now cherry-picks the races he wants to run. Chasing points, he says, is overrated, and now he is free to race the tracks and events he prefers-no matter who sanctions the race-and it allows him to concentrate only on collecting wins. At press time, Bloomquist had competed in seven national events this year and won an amazing four.
"If you are trying to operate off of your race winnings," he says, "the only way to make money is to go after the really big races. Plus, I think a racer should be able to pick and choose where he wants to race. I remember winning the World 100 year before last. We were following a series at the time, and the very next week they sent us to this track that was a dump. I was coming off this high of racing at a great track and winning in front of 40,000 people against 200 other cars, and now we were at this little track with hardly any fans in the stands just because the track paid the series for a date. It was like getting pulled out of paradise and getting stuck in the gutter.
"So I decided I wasn't going to do it anymore. A racer shouldn't have to follow a series just because it pays points if he doesn't want to. You shouldn't have to tear up your equipment at a dump of a track for no money if you don't want to."
This season, Bloomquist plans to race only 16 events, but you can bet he will arrive with both guns loaded for every one of those. After winning nearly 500 races, he says he only enjoys racing when he knows he's going up against the top competition. Of course, by limiting the number of races he enters and only racing against the best competition, that only raises the stakes higher.
"That's what I live for," he says. "I think I've gotten a lot smarter about how to drive a race car, too. Now, I only drive hard when I need to. I used to run every lap like it was the last, but when you do that you will find yourself in the pits a lot more. I see a lot of drivers doing that today. What you have to learn is there is no reason to go any faster than you need to. Stay out of trouble and keep your car together so you will be around for the finish. Every part on the race car is on a clock. You can either accelerate that clock by how you drive or you can slow it down. Racing isn't just about driving fast; I've learned you also have to drive smart."
For years, Bloomquist raced cars built by the big chassis manufacturers, but they were never the same chassis that were sold to the public. Before a new chassis even made it to the track, he made numerous changes that he had developed over years of racing.
"I've always been working on ways to make a chassis work better and also to make it easier to work with," he says. "Some of the ideas I've developed have gotten out into the market, and some people still don't know about them. It finally got to the point where I decided it would be easier to just build my own chassis from scratch than it would be to continue modifying somebody else's."
Bloomquist is not a driver...
Bloomquist is not a driver who prefers to leave all the details to his crew and concentrate solely on driving. He's involved with every aspect of preparing his race cars.
That decision to increase his control over what he raced marked the beginning of Bloomquist Chassis, the business that really isn't. When Bloomquist began building chassis in his Tennessee shop a few years ago, he also put a "Bloomquist Chassis" decal on the side of his race car. Soon, he says, he began getting so many calls about selling someone a chassis he had to take it off. Bloomquist Chassis was never intended to become a high-volume factory, and Bloomquist says he has no desire to compete with the likes of GRT or MasterSbilt on the number of cars at a given track from week to week. Instead, his operation will help a select few racers with every aspect of their racing program.
"We are only going to do this with a few select teams, so we are going to be able to provide a lot more than just chassis or cars," he explains. "It's more of an exclusive, confidential-type program. If I start working with a team I know I can trust, I'll share my setups, help with their driving, everything.
"But to get a car from me is expensive," he continues. "You are going to spend quite a bit more for a car from my place. First of all, you cannot just buy a chassis. It's going to have to be a complete car-and you have to buy two to prove to me that you are serious. From that point, I'm going to work with you closely and include you in a lot of things. There are a lot of things I'm doing that I don't think a lot of other people are on top of, and I'll share all of that."
Bloomquist's reluctance to sell a bare chassis is just another sign of his desire to control every situation. One can hardly blame him. As he explains, his chassis is the result of decades of development. If he were to sell it to just anyone with a couple grand in his pocket, there is no doubt that cheaper knockoffs would be appearing everywhere. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but flattery doesn't pay the bills.