MOORESBURG, Tenn. — Dirt track racer Scott Bloomquist, known for his bravery and as one of the sport’s best, died Friday in a plane crash at his family’s farm in Mooresburg, friends and local officials said.

Bloomquist, 60, was known for his long hair and a race car emblazoned with the number zero and a skull and crossbones. He was also known for his victories.

Fellow racing driver Tony Stewart described Bloomquist as “probably the smartest guy I’ve ever met. in a social media post on X.

“What he could accomplish behind the wheel of a race car was surpassed by the ingenuity he put into building his race cars,” Stewart wrote. “He was a force on and off the track, with a personality as big as his list of accomplishments.”

Jerry Caldwell, president and manager of Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, told the Associated Press that Bloomquist was “arguably the best dirt late model racer in the history of the sport.”

The Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the plane flown by Bloomquist crashed into a barn and that Bloomquist was believed to be the only occupant, the AP reported. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the Piper J3C-65 crash, WVLT-TV Channel 8 in Kinsgsport reported.

Reid Millard, a fellow racer and funeral director in Missouri, said on Facebook that Bloomquist’s mother had asked him to announce the death. “Along with Scott’s daughter Ariel, his parents, his sister and along with everyone who knew and loved Scott – you are in our hearts and prayers,” Millard wrote.

In dirt track racing, drivers must steer right to make the car turn left. When cornering, the left front tire comes off the track and the left rear tire provides traction.

The cars weigh about 2,300 pounds and have over 800 horsepower. At Eldora Speedway, the Stewart-owned track in western Ohio, the cars reach top speeds of about 150 miles per hour.

The vehicles have two-speed transmissions and no windshields, just short plastic shields to protect the driver from rocks. It can be a tough contact sport.

“Rubbing is racing,” said Gerald Newton, president of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Bloomquist was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

Bloomquist was born in Iowa and later lived in California until the family wanted to move east and bought the farm in Tennessee.

Bloomquist got into racing through a car his father bought, but soon lost interest, Newton said.

“He worked for the people, made a little money to buy a tire and win a race,” Newton said.

Besides winning, Bloomquist also became known as a cocky and bad boy, Newton said, with his personality based on the skull and crossbones painted in the zero on his race car.

“He always told me that it’s not boasting or showing off if it’s facts and you can back it up,” Newton said of Bloomquist. “And he did.”