Tom Blomqvist is a competitor, as competitive as they come. A prime example is that he most recently took up a new card game in Gin Rummy. He learned the game with his girlfriend. Even as a novice, he’s yet to lose.
No matter if it’s a card game, miniature golf or anything else, competition gets his juices flowing.
“I hate losing. I get so angry when I lose,” Blomqvist said. “I try to do things in my life, in general, that make me happy and have fun. I have to be active.”
That has always equated to on-track success. He’s won five times over the last two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaigns with Meyer Shank Racing, including bookending both the 2022 and 2023 seasons with victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona (season opener) and Petit Le Mans (season finale). He also won the DPi prototype class championship in IMSA in 2022.
So why is Blomqvist, who’s admittedly trophy hunting, changing disciplines in 2024 to become a rookie in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with Meyer Shank Racing after three races with limited success as a substitute driver with MSR in 2023?
For someone with his success in sports cars, it seems ambitious to continue that hunt in the most competitive and diverse racing series in the world.
Blomqvist could have just as easily stayed in his comfort zone easy way by staying a sports car driver. However, successful stagnation doesn’t drive Blomqvist.
“This move across INDYCAR – I could have potentially stayed in the sports car scene,” he said. “I’ve done all right there. I could have quite easily stayed there for many, many years to come and just be happy and relaxed in that environment that I know so well. But I like new challenges and putting myself up to things that are different and difficult situations. I think it’s so rewarding when you figure that out.”
Figuring that out will be no small feat. However, he’s chasing a feeling and euphoria that only success in a new form of motorsports can quench.
“It’s just a bit of my love of the sport and desire,” Blomqvist said. “I’m super competitive, I always have been. And just the pure enjoyment out of driving and racing and competing. I think for anyone who’s in a position to race and taste what the success feels like, there’s nothing, in my opinion, nothing quite like it. Not only that, it’s also the satisfaction that gives when you feel like your own personal performance played such a huge part in that success. I think that feeling, that’s what drives me.”
That’s why despite challenges sure to come, Blomqvist wants to give Meyer Shank Racing more trophies. It’s just that this time, he’d like to keep them.
As the son of 1984 World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist, Tom Blomqvist has seen plenty of the shiny hardware that accompanies success. That’s one of his fonder memories as a young kid, playing with his dad’s race-winning memorabilia in his house. While the younger Blomqvist has done his fair share of winning, too, he’s has given away most of those trophies and realizes he should have kept more for his collection.
For someone who hopes to one day become a father, Blomqvist would love to show off some shiny hardware to his kin.
“My trophies, I’m so bad with them,” Blomqvist said. “I’ll just leave them at a team. I’ve got probably two trophies at my apartment. The only reason I’m saying this is because I remember when I was a baby growing up, my dad used to have so much of his stuff lying around. I just remember as a kid that was super cool. I used to love seeing them and playing with them. I’m guessing it would be the same if I was ever to have kids down the line when I have my own proper man cave with memorabilia.”
Blomqvist hopes his success is a parallel to his go-to jam before he straps into a race car – “Remember the Name” by Fort Minor.
Fittingly enough, that’s exactly something the 29-year-old rookie driver hopes fans will know by the time the series reaches its finale next September on the streets of Nashville.
“Motorsports are kind of a funny thing,” Blomqvist said. “You have moments in your career where you’re just riding the wave, and all of a sudden it’s like you can’t do a thing right. There’s times where everything’s going your way, and you just have to make sure when those moments are there, you’re capitalizing on them. Being professional now for nine, not quite 10 years, there’s been a lot of moments where it’s up and down.
“I feel like my career kind of found a way of getting myself to a position where at times I thought I’d never be able to get there. Now I’m in a position where I believe that I deserve to be in. I think also the tough times make you realize, and when it comes together, that things are going to be all right. There’s a lot of times where you think everything is against you, and then things have a funny way of working themselves out for the guys who deserve it.”