Bloomquist once considered buying a Bill Elliott winning NASCAR ride; He learned quickly that stock car racing wasn’t for him
Scott Bloomquist is a polarizing character. There’s fans that love him and those who love to hate him but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone say he’s bad for the sport.
Yet, that’s essentially the opinion NASCAR once had of Black Sunshine. In the height of drama from various drug charges, Bloomquist was exploring the idea of going stock car racing.
The Tennessee racer had a plan to buy a car that Bill Elliott drove to victory lane. He even took the initiative of going to the shop to check out the car in person.
Elliott ran just 44 Xfinity Series races. He picked up just one Xfinity win, which came in 1993 with Charles Hardy Racing at Watkins Glen International.
Could you imagine the hippy from California standing alongside The Intimidator and The Rainbow Warriors? The early to mid-90s was an amazing era, just as NASCAR boomed.
But, why didn’t Bloomquist buy the NASCAR racecar? Or ever run a pavement NASCAR race?
Scott Bloomquist shot down by NASCAR; It wasn’t for him anyway
“I went to buy a car that they had won in,” Bloomquist stated via the Dale Jr Download.
“I was just going to try it because I realized I was not cut out for a day job. He had won a race in that car and it was complete, sitting exactly how it was when he won the race.”
“It was a Busch car, Xfinity now. So, I drove over to look at the car.
“It was sitting exactly the way it was when they finished the race and they got the win. So I’m like, ‘If I’m going to buy this, all I ask for is if someone from this place can walk it through tech and represent it as the exact same car that won the race.’ “
“I should at least be able to race it one time, as it won.”
“They said, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ “
“Cause it wasn’t legal. They started telling me all the things it would need in order to race it.”
In those days, the tech line was highly political. It’s a totally different world today in the era of the Next Gen spec chassis. But in 1993, it was the Wild Wild West.
“When I got done listening to them, well I’m going to need a body. All these carburetors I’m going to need. The list kept growing and growing.”
“So I said, ‘I can’t race the car that you just won with why is that?’ He looked at me straight up and said, ‘Because you’re not Bill Elliott.’ “
“I said, ‘Well, this ain’t for me.’ I never looked back.”
“When I heard the field wasn’t the same for me, I was done.”
Related: Bloomquist tells the fascinating story of the #0 that goes all the way to China
Mike Helton told Scott Bloomquist not to race
“Then, I also got a call from Mike Helton. Who’s Mike Helton? I figured it out afterwards. He asked me to not come race.”
“Still too much controversy. He said he’d welcome me with open arms if I waited awhile until all that went away.”
“I would have never been happy in NASCAR or asphalt racing because I like to build. I can’t be constricted like that.”
Bloomquist added, “I love the ability to think outside the box. Build it and race it.”
Related: Scott Bloomquist details drug charges
NASCAR Truck Race
20 years later, Scott Bloomquist was welcomed with open arms to the world of NASCAR. He ran a truck race at Eldora Speedway in 2013. In typical Bloomquist fashion, he pushed the rulebook and ran it without the sway bar.
“I went and tested at Smoky Mountain. The other two cars of his, I was a half-second faster than they were,” Bloomquist recalled of a test ahead of the Eldora race
“I think they decided that I shouldn’t get to win the race. The car didn’t handle nothing like it did when I went back to Eldora.”
“It was a waste of my time. I said, ‘I wish I would have known the car wasn’t going to handle nothing like it did at Smoky Mountain. I wouldn’t have shown up.’ “
“They had to go back and make shocks off all the adjustments that were made. I guess they just missed it. I don’t know. The other guys ran good and I was a half second faster practicing, than all of them [at Smoky Mountain].”
Related: Scott Bloomquist throws stripper money at Bristol Dirt Track
