DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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What's possible for Scott Bloomquist in 2022? | Daily 2-23-2022
On the show today we are talking Scott Bloomquist, his recent struggles, and what we could possibly expect from him in 2022. Let's go!
Today is Wednesday, February 23rd, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
When you do a show like mine in dirt racing, there are certain drivers you're going to get asked about periodically, and certain drivers that just move the needle. One of those on the late model side is Scott Bloomquist. And for good reason. He's a hall of famer, he's won everything, championships, the big races, and he's got a wild personality to top it all off. One of my own first interactions with Bloomer came at DIRTcar Nationals six or seven years ago. He won the night's feature, got out of the car and sprayed water on all the photographers surrounding him, then proceeded to bite the head on the gator trophy in victory lane. It was about par for the course for Black Sunshine, and if you know anything about him, you know to expect the unexpected. If you didn't watch the Daily yesterday, we talked about how drivers have faired in big money late model races in recent seasons, and Bloomer wasn't even mentioned because he's basically been absent. But in the comments on YouTube later in the day, Jimmy posted that he thought the Zero could win some big cash this season. I'm not sure I really agree, but it got me thinking about all that's happened around the driver in recent years and what we could really expect from that team in 2022.
Team Zero did not race at all during Speedweeks, but we did see Bloomquist in Florida on vacation, riding rides on the Daytona boardwalk, and appearing some at the race tracks. His 2021 season was cut way down as he continued to recover from various injuries and surgeries, but hearing him talk through various outlets, things are looking good for this season. He's dealt with several problems, some stemming from a motorcycle crash in 2019, and others just from years of wear and tear. He's had ongoing hip problems, a 2021 procedure to repair his shoulder, and recent carpal tunnel surgery. That led to only nine Lucas appearances last season, and another 16 Outlaw races. For 2022, Bloomquist will not chase a championship with either series, instead doing like some of his peers and chasing the bigger money shows. His website shows their season beginning on March 25th with the first weekend of super late model action at Bristol for the Bristol Dirt Nationals. From there, the schedule includes a lot of the XR shows, the Eldora Million, Dream, and World, and all the big Lucas and Outlaw races. It's nearly 90 nights of racing barring weather and other cancellations. It feels like a lot for the nearly 60 year old driver coming off all these health issues.
Besides trying to get healthy, things haven't been easy behind the scenes with the race team either. SBR attempted to expand into a two car operation for the 2020 season, adding Chris Madden and sponsor Drydene to the mix, but that pairing ended just a few months later during the summer of 2020. Team boss Cody Sommer pointed to issues around the pandemic and the team just being spread too thin trying to campaign two cars as the reasons for the split. Bloomquist started the 2021 season as a full time member of the World of Outlaws, but was off the tour come April because of those nagging injuries. Nick Hoffman ended up running several races through the season to keep the seat warm and the team going. And then in September last year, Bloomquist and Sommer parted ways after three years together as partners running the organization. It sounds like maybe the two didn't agree on the future for both Scott and the team. So clearly there has been plenty of turmoil around Bloomquist and the team in recent years. But hopefully with the driver getting healthier, things will start to turn around going forward.
We know the Team Zero cars still have plenty of speed. Shannon Babb runs very well in those chassis, and we saw Hoffman have success in that fill-in role for Bloomquist late in 2021, that included strong finishes inside the Dome in December. Bloomquist himself, even with the injuries, still picked up three Outlaw top fives in 2021, a second at Volusia in January, a fourth at Cherokee in March, and a third at Lernerville in June. He also had top fives at Bristol in the XR shows in March. And, after he got back in the car towards the end of last season, he also had respectable finishes at the Dirt Track World Championship at Portsmouth, and World Finals.
But back to YouTube commenter Jimmy's thought that Bloomquist could win some big money races in 2022, I'm not so sure. He hasn't won a Lucas show since 2019, which was at Mansfield, and his last Outlaw win was at Thunder Mountain in Pennsylvania in 2020. It seems to me that it would be a very tall task and a big leap to think he could contend on the biggest stages right now, with limited starts over the past year and a field of dirt late models and drivers that is incredibly deep. When you look at the numbers, there are some bright spots, like his 2021 top five efficiency with the Outlaws. He was a perfect 3 for 3 in top five starts and top five finishes. But his average feature finish was about 15th, and he was in B Mains in seven of 16 appearances. To take down some of the money in 2022, he's going to have to outrun the likes of Brandon Overton, and Brandon Sheppard, and Jonathan Davenport, and Devin Moran, and Hudson O'Neal, and Tim McCreadie, and possibly Kyle Larson and many others. Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely though? I just don't think so. I definitely believe we'll see flashes of old Bloomer at times, with some laps led and some top fives along the way, but the schedule feels really ambitious for a guy that's been dealing with so many injuries. I know in the comments you guys are going to bring up Jimmy Owens, and Earl Pearson Jr., and Dale McDowell as older guys who are still very fast, and I agree. They are still strong competitors and capable of winning. With all that he's gone through though, I think it might be a bit premature to assume that Bloomquist can do right now what those guys are doing. Let's see him get some starts and get his sea legs under him again before we go full ham on him winning the Dream or at Bristol or elsewhere.
Drop me a comment on YouTube and social media with your Bloomquist thoughts. I know a lot of you have been dirt racing fans for a long time, do you think he could return to his past form in any way? Or do you think there is just too much competition right now. Let me know.
If you are in the market for other dirt racing audio this week, Winged Nation has shows with Diane Schatz, Don Kreitz Jr., and Carson Macedo. LoudPedal has team owner Dave Estep, Passing Points has Cody Cordell, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters and the Dirt Nerds. To see the full list of shows and episodes, check out dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are two shows on the streaming schedule today. Speed Sport has IMCA racing from Boyd Raceway, and there is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, have a good Wednesday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!