Born in Paintsville, Kentucky, Scurlock began his professional riding career in 1938 at Fairmount Park Racetrack in Collinsville, Illinois.
A year later, on August 26, 1939, at Ellis Park Racecourse in Henderson, Kentucky, he rode a three-year-old colt, Mr.
[1] During his career, Scurlock rode for prominent owners such as George D. Widener Jr., Harry Guggenheim, Ada L. Rice, and Herbert M. Woolf.
[2] Scurlock won a number of important races of his era, such as the Lawrence Realization Stakes in New York, the Arlington Classic in Chicago, and the Pimlico Special in Baltimore.
He competed in the Kentucky Derby three times and the Preakness Stakes once with his best result a seventh in both races in 1949 aboard Model Cadet.