Scott Bloomquist Dead

[RodneyRodriguez]

What a sad day in racing, truly in my opinion equal to when NASCAR lost Dale Earnhardt, Bloomer passed this morning in a plane crash near his home. The following announcement from the official Facebook page: 

 

November 14th, 1963 - August 16th, 2024

Nothing can prepare you for a day like today. With heavy hearts, we have to share the news that we have lost our great friend and hero today. Whether you cheered for him or booed for him, you still made noise, and Scott loved you all equally for that.

A loving father, a great son, a man who loved his friends and family, and last but not least, one hell of a wheel man.

Edited August 16 by RodneyRodriguez

[rebelracewriter]

1 hour ago, RodneyRodriguez said:

What a sad day in racing, truly in my opinion equal to when NASCAR lost Dale Earnhardt, Bloomer passed this morning in a plane crash near his home. The following announcement from the official Facebook page: 

Love him or hate him and his lifestyle in early years, there was no one more feared on the Late Model circuit during his prime. During that period he was definitely the 'G.O.A.T.' and his records will take others lots of time/work to equal. According to social media there are tracks/sanctions doing special promotions for lap 18(his original number).

RIP Black Sunshine

[ron.brown11]

Absolutely a legend, and he will be missed.

[ron.brown11]

Honeycutt had Bloomquist on his car at Ace Speedway tonight. He finished second there, after starting on the pole. He lost his brakes late in the going while leading. 

[ron.brown11]

I haven't read anything definitive about the crash, but the photos that I've seen indicate that either he was taking off, or doing a touch and go. He struck a barn off the right side of the runway. I didn't see any skid marks that would indicate that he ran off the runway under braking, and there were none in the grass leading to the barn impact. But the Piper Cub that he was flying, is a very slow plane. Normal landing speed is in the 55-60kts range, and can land as slow as 40kts. One can drive faster legally on I-10 in west TX, then a Cub can fly. All of the flight controls are completely manual, and operated by cables. It won't take long in verifying if one of them failed. Because of the simplicity of a Cub, they probably had that info within 48 hours. 

I spent 9+ years as a primary accident investigator in the AF & civil service. There's a retired test pilot AF, accident investigator & NTSB accident investigator, that's viewed everything that the NTSB has released, and I'm sure some that hasn't been released to the public. He thinks that unless they find some flight controls that failed, he thinks that this may be a suicide. He's basing that on his cancer, major back issues, and his financials. If you've ever been around an NTSB investigation, they look at anything around the flight parameters, weather, and the pilot's physical & mental situation. I truly hope that isn't the case. It can take up to 2 years for the NTSB to release a cause, or causes of an accident. But the plane is really simple, and I doubt that it will take more than a couple of months. 

No matter what the cause, it's still an incredible loss for his family, friends, and the racing community at large. RIP Scott..

[HiTech]

On 8/19/2024 at 3:15 PM, ron.brown11 said:

I haven't read anything definitive about the crash, but the photos that I've seen indicate that either he was taking off, or doing a touch and go. He struck a barn off the right side of the runway. I didn't see any skid marks that would indicate that he ran off the runway under braking, and there were none in the grass leading to the barn impact. But the Piper Cub that he was flying, is a very slow plane. Normal landing speed is in the 55-60kts range, and can land as slow as 40kts. One can drive faster legally on I-10 in west TX, then a Cub can fly. All of the flight controls are completely manual, and operated by cables. It won't take long in verifying if one of them failed. Because of the simplicity of a Cub, they probably had that info within 48 hours. 

I spent 9+ years as a primary accident investigator in the AF & civil service. There's a retired test pilot AF, accident investigator & NTSB accident investigator, that's viewed everything that the NTSB has released, and I'm sure some that hasn't been released to the public. He thinks that unless they find some flight controls that failed, he thinks that this may be a suicide. He's basing that on his cancer, major back issues, and his financials. If you've ever been around an NTSB investigation, they look at anything around the flight parameters, weather, and the pilot's physical & mental situation. I truly hope that isn't the case. It can take up to 2 years for the NTSB to release a cause, or causes of an accident. But the plane is really simple, and I doubt that it will take more than a couple of months. 

No matter what the cause, it's still an incredible loss for his family, friends, and the racing community at large. RIP Scott..

 he could had a heart attack

[ron.brown11]

8 minutes ago, HiTech said:

 he could had a heart attack

I hope so Mike. His medical situation will be looked into hard. That's the thing that I respect the most, the NTSB just wants to find out exactly what happened. In hopes of trying to prevent another crash, with a like cause. Sometimes there aren't any "this is it" moments unfortunately. But they will usually have a pretty good idea, and their report will say that if that's the case. With the FAA, I don't have anywhere near as much respect for them.

The very first crash site I ever went to, was a foreign student and a US Air Force captain. The student was about to wash out from pilot training, and in his home country that's a massive humiliation. Once the student would get back home, they'd kill him (it's a middle east country of course). So this student decided that he would go out on his terms. They were in a supersonic jet, at night. He selected full afterburner, and stuck his left foot against the throttles, prevent the captain from pulling the jet out of AB. The student then put his right foot. against the right console, and grabbed the stick with both hands pointing the jet straight down, preventing the captain from altering the flight trajectory. By this time they're supersonic, removing the ejection seat use, as punching out like that will kill you, as your body flails itself to death. The captain made radio calls to the tower, explaining what was happening, while trying to talk the student out of crashing the jet. Neither helped, and the jet hit straight in at over 1200kts. The crash site was only about a 40' circle, but the crater was almost 30' deep. That's 30' in west TX rock hard ground. The only things that were easily identified were the engines, and the inner nose strut, with the tire still attached, and it was still inflated! We couldn't identify the ejection seat components, other than the lap & shoulder belts. I was in the room when the Captain's wife was briefed. They had 2 girls under the age of 6. Thank God that they weren't there to hear that. That took place over 20 years ago, and it still brings me to tears. The last crash I worked was in 2018, right before I retired. I refused to go to the family briefing that time. I just could do it again. I can tell you this, I've never forgotten the scenes, the smells, and the spouses. I expect that not to change as long as I live. Now maybe others will understand why I am so concerned about racing safety & crashes. I've seen up close what bad racing, and safety short cuts can cause. 

Nobody hopes more than me that it wasn't self inflicted. I've known 3 people that have attempted suicide, and 2 of them succeeded. The first was in high school in 1975, as he successfully hung himself two weeks before our graduation. We had done 6 years together in school. Nobody ever knew why, and he left no note. But there's still an eerie reminder of him, as our yearbook had already been printed, and he was on the next page from my picture. The other two tried blowing their heads off, but only 1 successful. They had to take one of his ribs to reconstruct his jaw, and mouth area. These two did it over their girlfriends broke up with them. Yeah, these aren't easy to forget either.

[HiTech]

6 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

I hope so Mike. His medical situation will be looked into hard. That's the thing that I respect the most, the NTSB just wants to find out exactly what happened. In hopes of trying to prevent another crash, with a like cause. Sometimes there aren't any "this is it" moments unfortunately. But they will usually have a pretty good idea, and their report will say that if that's the case. With the FAA, I don't have anywhere near as much respect for them.

The very first crash site I ever went to, was a foreign student and a US Air Force captain. The student was about to wash out from pilot training, and in his home country that's a massive humiliation. Once the student would get back home, they'd kill him (it's a middle east country of course). So this student decided that he would go out on his terms. They were in a supersonic jet, at night. He selected full afterburner, and stuck his left foot against the throttles, prevent the captain from pulling the jet out of AB. The student then put his right foot. against the right console, and grabbed the stick with both hands pointing the jet straight down, preventing the captain from altering the flight trajectory. By this time they're supersonic, removing the ejection seat use, as punching out like that will kill you, as your body flails itself to death. The captain made radio calls to the tower, explaining what was happening, while trying to talk the student out of crashing the jet. Neither helped, and the jet hit straight in at over 1200kts. The crash site was only about a 40' circle, but the crater was almost 30' deep. That's 30' in west TX rock hard ground. The only things that were easily identified were the engines, and the inner nose strut, with the tire still attached, and it was still inflated! We couldn't identify the ejection seat components, other than the lap & shoulder belts. I was in the room when the Captain's wife was briefed. They had 2 girls under the age of 6. Thank God that they weren't there to hear that. That took place over 20 years ago, and it still brings me to tears. The last crash I worked was in 2018, right before I retired. I refused to go to the family briefing that time. I just could do it again. I can tell you this, I've never forgotten the scenes, the smells, and the spouses. I expect that not to change as long as I live. Now maybe others will understand why I am so concerned about racing safety & crashes. I've seen up close what bad racing, and safety short cuts can cause. 

Nobody hopes more than me that it wasn't self inflicted. I've known 3 people that have attempted suicide, and 2 of them succeeded. The first was in high school in 1975, as he successfully hung himself two weeks before our graduation. We had done 6 years together in school. Nobody ever knew why, and he left no note. But there's still an eerie reminder of him, as our yearbook had already been printed, and he was on the next page from my picture. The other two tried blowing their heads off, but only 1 successful. They had to take one of his ribs to reconstruct his jaw, and mouth area. These two did it over their girlfriends broke up with them. Yeah, these aren't easy to forget either.

[HiTech]

Just now, HiTech said:

6 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

I hope so Mike. His medical situation will be looked into hard. That's the thing that I respect the most, the NTSB just wants to find out exactly what happened. In hopes of trying to prevent another crash, with a like cause. Sometimes there aren't any "this is it" moments unfortunately. But they will usually have a pretty good idea, and their report will say that if that's the case. With the FAA, I don't have anywhere near as much respect for them.

The very first crash site I ever went to, was a foreign student and a US Air Force captain. The student was about to wash out from pilot training, and in his home country that's a massive humiliation. Once the student would get back home, they'd kill him (it's a middle east country of course). So this student decided that he would go out on his terms. They were in a supersonic jet, at night. He selected full afterburner, and stuck his left foot against the throttles, prevent the captain from pulling the jet out of AB. The student then put his right foot. against the right console, and grabbed the stick with both hands pointing the jet straight down, preventing the captain from altering the flight trajectory. By this time they're supersonic, removing the ejection seat use, as punching out like that will kill you, as your body flails itself to death. The captain made radio calls to the tower, explaining what was happening, while trying to talk the student out of crashing the jet. Neither helped, and the jet hit straight in at over 1200kts. The crash site was only about a 40' circle, but the crater was almost 30' deep. That's 30' in west TX rock hard ground. The only things that were easily identified were the engines, and the inner nose strut, with the tire still attached, and it was still inflated! We couldn't identify the ejection seat components, other than the lap & shoulder belts. I was in the room when the Captain's wife was briefed. They had 2 girls under the age of 6. Thank God that they weren't there to hear that. That took place over 20 years ago, and it still brings me to tears. The last crash I worked was in 2018, right before I retired. I refused to go to the family briefing that time. I just could do it again. I can tell you this, I've never forgotten the scenes, the smells, and the spouses. I expect that not to change as long as I live. Now maybe others will understand why I am so concerned about racing safety & crashes. I've seen up close what bad racing, and safety short cuts can cause. 

Nobody hopes more than me that it wasn't self inflicted. I've known 3 people that have attempted suicide, and 2 of them succeeded. The first was in high school in 1975, as he successfully hung himself two weeks before our graduation. We had done 6 years together in school. Nobody ever knew why, and he left no note. But there's still an eerie reminder of him, as our yearbook had already been printed, and he was on the next page from my picture. The other two tried blowing their heads off, but only 1 successful. They had to take one of his ribs to reconstruct his jaw, and mouth area. These two did it over their girlfriends broke up with them. Yeah, these aren't easy to forget either.

Expand  

.    the owner of a van  had the van towed  over  to our  dodge dealership . i was  the lucjy draw tech  .. the owner wanted it clean washed shampoo  . everything ..  heck i  worked heavy line   overhaul and stuffs .not a car wash ..  bt iwent out back and looked the van over  , it was van i  had noticed for three days in the hot sun with dark tinted windows at our mall just down the street  .the security  had check the van out more than once  and finaly notice something and called the police .. . found out when i opened the side door  it hit me hard . the smell  and some parts left inside of a women who laid down between the  front and back seat put a bag over her head and shot herself .... her worthless husband wanted the van back .. he didnt care one iota about her just mad she did it in the van .. .well i turned it down  and we sent it over to another place that had the vacume system  to clean the air inside and then  cleaned the carpet .. .. .i;l never forget that .. had ot clean  a head on between  two rigs  . on a two  lane  during a foggy night ..  they never   knew what hit them . 4 killed ..  . two 26 hours to clean that up ..  11 trailors loaded  with parts .. . on had a reefer , i had to rip it open  and clear everything  out onto the shoulder so we could  get the trailor loaded onto a flat bed ..  the sadest part .when i loaded the cab onto a trailor  we noticed something when i laid  it down ..   behind the seat    of the cab i over that was acryshed si bad it would fit in the bed of my dakota .. was a new born  little girl   .her parents  were moving from moving from mexico  to houston  .. they both were blown out the doors on impact ....  first time  i woke up and realized four  poeple  were killed . = useing my 20 thousand pound lift a62  loader  with forks and a bucket kept me from thinking about them before hand .   .. sad  scott  lost his life  this way .. 

[ron.brown11]

18 hours ago, HiTech said:

.    the owner of a van  had the van towed  over  to our  dodge dealership . i was  the lucjy draw tech  .. the owner wanted it clean washed shampoo  . everything ..  heck i  worked heavy line   overhaul and stuffs .not a car wash ..  bt iwent out back and looked the van over  , it was van i  had noticed for three days in the hot sun with dark tinted windows at our mall just down the street  .the security  had check the van out more than once  and finaly notice something and called the police .. . found out when i opened the side door  it hit me hard . the smell  and some parts left inside of a women who laid down between the  front and back seat put a bag over her head and shot herself .... her worthless husband wanted the van back .. he didnt care one iota about her just mad she did it in the van .. .well i turned it down  and we sent it over to another place that had the vacume system  to clean the air inside and then  cleaned the carpet .. .. .i;l never forget that .. had ot clean  a head on between  two rigs  . on a two  lane  during a foggy night ..  they never   knew what hit them . 4 killed ..  . two 26 hours to clean that up ..  11 trailors loaded  with parts .. . on had a reefer , i had to rip it open  and clear everything  out onto the shoulder so we could  get the trailor loaded onto a flat bed ..  the sadest part .when i loaded the cab onto a trailor  we noticed something when i laid  it down ..   behind the seat    of the cab i over that was acryshed si bad it would fit in the bed of my dakota .. was a new born  little girl   .her parents  were moving from moving from mexico  to houston  .. they both were blown out the doors on impact ....  first time  i woke up and realized four  poeple  were killed . = useing my 20 thousand pound lift a62  loader  with forks and a bucket kept me from thinking about them before hand .   .. sad  scott  lost his life  this way .. 

Yeah, there's no forgetting those sights and smells. I can't imagine what finding a deceased baby would do to your mind. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. The only positive from that is that you know that they all died instantly. That still won't take that from your mind though.

As I've said above, I really hope this isn't the case for Scott. But this retired AF accident/NTSB guy, has been pretty accurate over the years. He was one of the investigators for the UA Air Force 4 ship crash that happened at Tonopah, NV back in the early 80s. He also helped out on the air show last year in Dallas, where the old prop fighter struct the B-17 and killed them all. After just 4 days, they were certain that the Air Boss screwed up royally. The Air Boss for an airshow is the person that draws up all of the flight plans, for every aircraft that flys in the show. This is done in the days leading up to the show, and they brief every aircrew. They also direct every aspect of all the flying in the show, and reconfirm on the morning of the show, that all aircrews know what they are to do. That's supposed to be set in stone. But that's not what happened, as he changed the flight paths for the accident aircraft mid-show, while they were airborne. This guy has also been an Air Boss for airshows, so he knows what is supposed to take place. At some point the NTSB report will come out, and they don't sugarcoat anything. Like I said before, that's what I respect about the NTSB.

[HiTech]

On 8/21/2024 at 6:32 PM, ron.brown11 said:

Yeah, there's no forgetting those sights and smells. I can't imagine what finding a deceased baby would do to your mind. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. The only positive from that is that you know that they all died instantly. That still won't take that from your mind though.

As I've said above, I really hope this isn't the case for Scott. But this retired AF accident/NTSB guy, has been pretty accurate over the years. He was one of the investigators for the UA Air Force 4 ship crash that happened at Tonopah, NV back in the early 80s. He also helped out on the air show last year in Dallas, where the old prop fighter struct the B-17 and killed them all. After just 4 days, they were certain that the Air Boss screwed up royally. The Air Boss for an airshow is the person that draws up all of the flight plans, for every aircraft that flys in the show. This is done in the days leading up to the show, and they brief every aircrew. They also direct every aspect of all the flying in the show, and reconfirm on the morning of the show, that all aircrews know what they are to do. That's supposed to be set in stone. But that's not what happened, as he changed the flight paths for the accident aircraft mid-show, while they were airborne. This guy has also been an Air Boss for airshows, so he knows what is supposed to take place. At some point the NTSB report will come out, and they don't sugarcoat  one from driving .. anything. Like I said before, that's what I respect about the NTSB.

ive ran into and seem some htings ..  that baby was sad .. the hwoel family was both sides ....  BUT THE ONE   i tell some that realy realy stay with  me .and some folks   who drink and drivei hope reads this and maybe make them  get a ride ... a person i went to school with  was driving home  on fm 624  .  as he was passing  my moms house thatrun right along 624  a young lady was also going home heading the other way ..  well  the one i went to schooh with was drunk . he hit that lady head on right  at the end of my moms drive way  .i happen to be sleeping there that night  had a D8  i had to haul   loaded  in the yard . as we woke up and went  out to the wreck  .i didnt need to check the truck driver  i knew he was  gone  , so  my mom and her husband all went to the car  . the lady was crushed by the stearing wheel  . she was gone .. .  we heard a sound in the back seat  so i  moved somethings and found a five year old boy  still in his car seat . he was not injured . i pulled him out  and tried to keep him from seeing his mom .  as my mom and i stood with him   once  the police  got there ..   the little boy looked me  right in the face and said this ..  I   KNOW MY MOM IS DEAD    WILL YOU   PLEASE  GO TELL HER I LOVE HER .. . I    DID  WITH TEARS  rushing down my face  as mom held him ....... i didnt go  to my friends funeral  . i went    to hers ..  i told his family sorry  he wasnt worth it   ... i dispise drunk drivers  who  thinks they can drive . . its ,murder in my books ..   i know and understand  what u went through  . i live that memory  everytime i  hear of  a   drunk driver has killed someone   no matter where it is .i  see the wreck and hear that little boys  voice .all  over again  , it should not have happend ....

[ron.brown11]

14 hours ago, HiTech said:

ive ran into and seem some htings ..  that baby was sad .. the hwoel family was both sides ....  BUT THE ONE   i tell some that realy realy stay with  me .and some folks   who drink and drivei hope reads this and maybe make them  get a ride ... a person i went to school with  was driving home  on fm 624  .  as he was passing  my moms house thatrun right along 624  a young lady was also going home heading the other way ..  well  the one i went to schooh with was drunk . he hit that lady head on right  at the end of my moms drive way  .i happen to be sleeping there that night  had a D8  i had to haul   loaded  in the yard . as we woke up and went  out to the wreck  .i didnt need to check the truck driver  i knew he was  gone  , so  my mom and her husband all went to the car  . the lady was crushed by the stearing wheel  . she was gone .. .  we heard a sound in the back seat  so i  moved somethings and found a five year old boy  still in his car seat . he was not injured . i pulled him out  and tried to keep him from seeing his mom .  as my mom and i stood with him   once  the police  got there ..   the little boy looked me  right in the face and said this ..  I   KNOW MY MOM IS DEAD    WILL YOU   PLEASE  GO TELL HER I LOVE HER .. . I    DID  WITH TEARS  rushing down my face  as mom held him ....... i didnt go  to my friends funeral  . i went    to hers ..  i told his family sorry  he wasnt worth it   ... i dispise drunk drivers  who  thinks they can drive . . its ,murder in my books ..   i know and understand  what u went through  . i live that memory  everytime i  hear of  a   drunk driver has killed someone   no matter where it is .i  see the wreck and hear that little boys  voice .all  over again  , it should not have happend ....

Yep, you never forget those scenes, and the aftermath. When my son was in Iraq, he was just helping out some security forces, and some Iraqi soldiers. He was on a flight crew on a KC-135 tanker, but they weren't scheduled to fly for a couple of days. So he asked where he could help out. He hated being there, and having nothing to do. They were out at the large vehicle gate, where they would bring in supplies to the base. Someone set off a truck bomb about 50 yards from where he was standing. It killed 9 Iraqis, and injured 127. But it wasn't over. They had backups, and were firing on them too. Thank God he didn't get hit or killed, and there was some special operators that were about to leave on patrol. They took out the gun fire. But he had to walk past bodies & body parts, men that he had been helping, just minutes before. He won't talk about it, and I've tried several times. He does talk occasionally with a VA counselor, so I'm grateful for that. But I bet that he too will never forget that scene. I don't think that he has ever told my wife all of the details, and that's a good thing. He's our only child. Before in joined the AF, the longest period of time that she didn't see him, was for 3 days on his senior trip. She was a wreck when he was in basic training, and we HAD to go to his graduation from it.