For the first time in the race’s 29-year existence, Scott Bloomquist is not competing in this week’s Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Bloomquist was missing on the event's pre-entry list released Monday night and arrived at Eldora Speedway on Thursday without his race car. 

While Bloomquist is not racing himself, he will be assisting Kyle Strickler as a driver coach throughout the week. 

Bloomquist, the Dream’s winningest driver with eight event trophies has entered only one Dirt Late Model event this year — January 19’s Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. — and he withdrew from the rest of the multi-day event due to continued numbness in his right foot and leg.

Physically, Bloomquist hasn’t been at full strength since his March 2019 motorcycle accident. In his special appearance aboard Augie Burttram’s No. 58 Big Frog Motorsports entry at Volusia on Jan. 19, his foot slipped off the brake pedal while he ripped around the high-speed oval during competition, and he relinquished the seat the very next night to Chris Ferguson. 

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In February, Bloomquist said that coping with his ailments on the racetrack isn’t “fair to my competitors, nor myself, or my fans or anybody” because of the obvious danger it presents, he said.

Bloomquist’s eight Dream trophies are by far and wide the most in Dirt Late Model racing history. Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., is next in line with three Dream wins.

Last year, Bloomquist finished 24th in the event because he failed to make it to pre-race tire tech on time and was not allowed into the infield, thus forfeiting his position.