“After the race I got to talking to Penske and he told me they were gonna run a two-car team in NASCAR the following season,” Bloom continued. “He asked me if I‘d drive for him the following season in 1976. He had been running Bobby Allison with the American Motors sponsorship. Penske got the notice at the end of December the AMC was pulling out. And that ended it for me. I got a full season NASCAR ride with Penske, but it ended due to the lack of sponsorship.”
Bloom also flirted with racing in the Indianapolis 500.
“In 1976, I got an offer to compete in the Indy 500 for Lindsey Hopkins,” Bloom said. “Roger McCluskey was going to drive the primary car. I was going to drive the second car. We were down there the whole month. McCluskey had both cars out and practiced them. He was second quick with his car and fourth quick in the car I was supposed to drive.
“I wasn‘t going to get in the car until after the first weekend of qualifying after the primary car was in the show,” he continued. “Then my deal was to get my rookie test completed and get the car ready during the week between qualifying weekends. They had an hour practice the morning of opening weekend of qualifying. McCluskey was out practicing ad something broke and he got into the wall and destroyed the car. He got in the second car and I got booted.”
How long Bloom will continue to race is anyone‘s guess, but he remains competitive.He won a 25-lap preliminary night feature during last year‘s two-day Must See Racing event at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
“The Speedrome win was a no give me,” Bloom said. “That win was significant because it gave me a win in seven different decades I‘ve competed.
“I don‘t know. Honestly, it‘s going to be determined by health. Part of the reason for buying the Beast was to be a little more competitive at Anderson. The other reason I bought it was to run a few of the 500 Sprint Car Tour events that don‘t interfere with the Must See Racing schedule.”
What does Bloom hope for with this year‘s Little 500?
“If I could qualify decent, and I mean top 10, then run in the top five in the race I‘d be happy,” he said. “But it‘s going to be tough on me physically to run 500 laps at the pace they run today. If I was 35 years old it would be different, but I‘m not. Realistically a top-five finish would be just as good as a win at this stage of my career.”