Legendary race car driver Scott Bloomquist took his own life by intentionally crashing his plane into a barn in Tennessee last August, according to the National Transportation and Safety Board.
“The pilot departed from a private airstrip and overflew his property,” the NTSB said. “The airplane subsequently impacted a barn adjacent to the airstrip. The airplane sustained damage, and the fuselage was mostly consumed by the postimpact fire that ensued. The pilot was fatally injured. An autopsy of the pilot was performed by the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center, Johnson City, Tennessee. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as blunt force injuries and the manner of death as suicide.”
NBC Sports reported that Bloomquist was “struggling with a series of health issues that included lower-body injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash during 2019 Daytona Bike Week, a diagnosis of prostate cancer, back surgery, and a recent hospitalization due to complications from a horsefly bite.”
Bloomquist was 60 at the time of his death.
He reportedly flew his single-engine Piper J3C-65 Cub into the barn just before 8 a.m. on the morning of his death.
The news sent shockwaves across the racing community. Retired NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace called Bloomquist “the greatest dirt racer to ever live.”
Tony Stewart took to X with a long post.
“Scott Bloomquist was one of a kind, and he’s probably the smartest guy I’ve ever been around when it comes to dirt racing,” he wrote. “What he could do behind the wheel of a racecar was matched by the ingenuity he put into building his race cars. He was a force on the track and off, with a personality as big as his list of accomplishments. He made dirt racing better with a presence that will greatly be missed.”
Per NBC, Bloomquist was inducted into the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2002 and had a long list of accomplishments. Those included winning the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship in 2009, 2010 and 2016. He was World of Outlaws champion in 2004, and was DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion in 1990, 1991 and 2002.
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