BEDFORD, Pa. – In a year where the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member appears to be on the downfall, Scott Bloomquist flipped the notion Friday evening at Bedford Speedway.
“Honestly,” Bloomquist started as he raised a smile, “I think I’m good to go now.”
Heading into tonight’s 60-lap, $25,000-to-win Keystone Cup, Bloomquist is concluding one of the most tumultuous seasons of his well-documented racing career.
In 49 events this year, Bloomquist remains winless with only four podium runs to show for and hasn’t gone winless throughout the course of a season in recent memory.
Bloomquist withdrew from the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series in April and sat out the month of August to treat injuries from a 2019 motorcycle accident. He’s battled numbness in his right leg and three weeks ago announced he’d split from Cory Sommer’s race team at season’s end.
Through all the muck, the clinical Bloomquist put on a smile just minutes before another attempt at righting the ship began.
Last week during the Dirt Track World Championship at Ohio’s Portsmouth Raceway, Bloomquist qualified sixth and ran in the top three of the 100-lap race. A mid-race accident, however, knocked him out of contention and he instead finished 14th.
“It’s the best I’ve felt all year,” Bloomquist said. “We’ve been getting better.
“We were really good at Eldora Speedway [during the World 100],” Bloomquist added. “We were really good last week at Portsmouth. Ended up in an accident. All in all, if it wasn’t for the accident, we felt like we could’ve won the race, possibly.”
Bloomquist came back from his time off at Eldora and finished 16th, 17th, 13th and 16th.
More importantly, he didn’t experience any excruciating pain throughout 250 laps of racing in a four-day span.
“I think, again, my leg was going totally numb after 40 laps,” Bloomquist said. “Now, we’re running 100-lappers fine.”
On Friday, Bloomquist visited Dr. Somera Ali in Royersford, Pa., three hours east of the Bedford Fairgrounds, where his back, right leg and hips were attended to.
Eleven races, including Saturday’s big unsanctioned event in Pennsylvania, remain on Bloomquist’s schedule to close out the year. During Friday’s semi-feature, Bloomquist finished second from the third-starting spot.
Tonight he’s guaranteed a top six starting position and will start fourth in the six-car, six-lap dash.
Some of his best racing lies ahead, he’s convinced.
“It can be 10 years, I don’t know,” Bloomquist said. “I’m in a lot better shape than most people would think. As far as overall, if it wasn’t for the damn accident I was in, it’ll have to be something physical that makes me not feel I can’t win races.
“I don’t see myself running a series again,” Bloomquist added. “We’re focusing on a lot of big money races next year, a lot of things going on. “We plan on being in the mix of it.”
“We’re ready to race again,” Bloomquist said. “The car is running good. Everything is in top shape.”