The plane crash that claimed the life of Scott Bloomquist on August 16, 2024, has been determined as intentional by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), ruling his death a suicide. Bloomquist was piloting a vintage Piper J3 aircraft that he owned and was the only passenger.
A statement from the NTSB concluded: “The pilot departed from a private airstrip and overflew his property. The airplane subsequently impacted a barn adjacent to the airstrip. The airplane sustained substantial 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.”
The full NTSB report is available here.
At the time of the crash, 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 that went unnoticed due to numbness from the 2019 motorcycle crash.
Bloomquist was one of the winningest drivers in Dirt Late Model history with 94 victories in 502 Lucas Oil Late Model starts, plus 33 victories in the World of Outlaws. Included in his victories were eight wins in the Dirt Late Model Dream and four World 100 triumphs. In total, Bloomquist is credited with more than 600 victories in late models.
