Tony Stewart, World Racing Group and Others Sued For $16.5 Million
Tony Stewart’s legal issues just multiplied when Scott Bloomquist and several other late-model drivers filed suit claiming improper disqualifications.
In northern New York’s Federal Court dirt late-model champion Scott Bloomquist and others have filed a civil suit against World Racing Group, Eldora Speedway, Tony Stewart and UMP DIRTcar racing for damages they suffered as a result of being disqualified from 2015 and 2016 Late Model Dream event at Eldora Speedway.
The complaint states that Bloomquist along with Jimmy Owens, Gregg Satterlee, Brandon Sheppard, and Ricky Thornton Jr. are all plaintiffs in the case. All the drivers were disqualified during the 2015 or 2016 events.
In 2015, immediately after the event, all cars must pass over the scales to ensure that they meet minimum weight. Bloomquist’s car was underweight and disqualified.
In the complaint, it states that the state of Ohio Department of Agriculture inspected the scales the next month. They found them to be “out of tolerance” by different amounts each test. The amounts of variance the state found were underweight between 37-61lbs. Bloomquist’s car was found to be underweight by 21lbs.
The winners purse for The Dream was $100,000. It was awarded to the second place finisher while Bloomquist received $2000.
The complaint continues to state that during the 2016 running of The Dream rubber samples were taken from Scott Bloomquist’s tires and examined by a lab. The testing is done to ensure no chemical treatments are illegally applied to the tires used in the race. The results showed the tires did not meet the same baseline measurements of the manufacturer.
The penalties for that violation was a fine and a suspension from World Racing Group events for three months. Bloomquist maintains that the testing agency did not have experience with racing tires and that results from the two tests did not match. He also states that the lab reported later that further testing found no variances in the tires.
How the calculations came up with $16.5 million is a mystery. Bloomquist claims lost income from the suspension, the $98,000 reduction in purse from The Dream and damages to his reputation as a racer. He states in the complaint that his standing with potential sponsors has been reduced as a result of the disqualifications.
In a statement to Fox Sports, Eldora Speedway GM Roger Slack called the suit “meritless”.
Tony Stewart finds himself in the middle of several cases in courtrooms in New York. He recently lost his case against his own insurance company who refuses to provide a defence for Stewart in the civil case regarding the death of Kevin Ward Jr. Stewart announced his intent to appeal that ruling last week. The wrongful death case itself is scheduled to begin this winter, but with Stewart’s appeal of the AXIS decision that may be pushed back.
Disqualifications are a regular occurrence in the world of dirt track racing. The thought that anyone’s reputation was affected by being slightly overweight is a bit of a stretch. The tire issue is a different matter as it made the news. The reason the disqualification made the news was a combination of the size of the event and the driver involved.
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Scott Bloomquist and Tony Stewart might be the two biggest name in dirt track racing. Racing fans everywhere want to see the two battling it out door to door on the track, not in the courtroom. This does nothing but brings a bad light to the world of dirt track racing. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.