ELLISVILLE, Fla. (Oct. 22) — Donnie Chappell knows what the annual Powell Family Memorial at All-Tech Raceway means to race fans across the country, and the Jacksonville, Fla., driver wanted to do something extra special for the recent 27th version of the event. Chappell is a regular participant in the annual Newsome Raceway Parts Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series-sanctioned contest, and occasionally competes in other races with the Eastaboga, Ala-based organization.
Thinking back to a special time in his own life, Chappell came up with the idea to have a new wrap created for his machine that would pay tribute to one of dirt track racing’s biggest stars: Scott Bloomquist. He debuted the new wrap—put together by Jacksonville, Fla-based Topknotch Kustom Koncepts’ Brian Green—during the giant weekend at the Wendell Durrance-promoted oval.
It caught the eyes of race fans, some of whom even mistakenly figured ole’ Bloomquist himself was driving the look-a-like car. But no, it was Chappell aboard the machine, and while he failed to make the 30-car starting grid after finishing 14th in the third of three B-mains, he gained more than his share of attention for his participation efforts.
Chappell’s intended goal was to focus attention on Blooomquist—and not himself. Back when Chappell was a young boy, the Mooresburg, Tenn., driver made a little kid feel like a king, and that young man happened to be Chappell.
“It was in the early 90s at St. Augustine (Fla.) Speedway, where Bloomquist was racing one night I was there,” said Chappell about the kindness shown to him at the now-defunct facility. Not yet a teenager, Chappell got the chance to meet Bloomquist. It was a moment he’s never forgotten, and the memory has stayed with him through Chappell’s own racing career.
“I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, and he took me up in the trailer and let me hang out for a little while,” Chappell recalled. “It was pretty cool for that to happen to a kid my age, and I’ve been a big fan of him ever since.”
While Bloomquist’s own highly-successful driving career and unique position that he carved in the sport has sometimes made him a polarizing figure to race fans across the nation—some who love him and some who love to hate him—there’s no doubt he’s always been the man who moves the needle most often in dirt track Late Model racing.
Since suffering hip and leg injuries in a motorcycle wreck a few years ago in Daytona Beach, Fla., Bloomquist’s prolific career production numbers have been slowed by pain from the accident and the inevitable advancing age that eventually catches up with most successful athletes. That said, he’s still considered a threat to win at any given time, and his fans haven’t forgotten how many years he was either at or near the top of the game.
Chappell hasn’t forgotten either.
“We just wanted to try to do something special for the Powell race,” Chappell said. “When I got involved in racing, I started out with green and white colors because of him, and it’s a color scheme I’ve never left.”
Chappell—like many longtime Bloomquist supporters—would like nothing better than to go back to the glory days when the free-spirited Bloomquist was one of the acknowledged rulers of the dirt Late Model kingdom.
“I’ll admit there’s times I wish he’d get it together a little better these days,” Chappell said. “A lot of people like to give him a hard time, but people don’t realize what it takes to dominate a sport like he’s done for so many years. When you’ve been on top that long—and it don’t really matter which sport—a lot of people don’t understand how hard it is to do that at a professional level.”