Canadian teen racer set for NASCAR Clash spotlight after beating rare cancer

A teenage racer from Lindsay, Ont., is about to compete on one of the biggest stages in American stock-car racing — the latest milestone in a life already defined by resilience.

Ollie Ferguson will race at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina during NASCAR Clash weekend. The 16-year-old will be compete in the “Cook Out Clash” race on Feb. 1.

The NASCAR Cup series non-championship exhibition race is held before the Daytona 500 season opener.

“It’s gonna be a cool experience for everyone in Lindsay, I guess, to see the hometown boy go race in the States,” said Ollie, a pro late-model driver.

Ollie has raced at the track in Salem-Winston before, but not on this big of a stage amid massive crowds and a nationally televised audience.

“It’s going to be televised to millions of people, and I’m just super excited to be racing at the same time as the NASCAR Cup Series,” he said.

“Being in the same garage with them and chatting with them at the same time, and getting tips from real Cup drivers. That’s going to be super cool.”

He may have earned his driver’s licence just a month ago, but Ollie has been racing since he was nine years old.

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But before he was battling other drivers, he faced a bigger battle with myelodysplasia (MDS), a rare and life-threatening bone marrow cancer.

Diagnosed at age four, he required a bone marrow transplant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, with his sister Scarlette serving as his donor.

That was followed by two years of recovery and fighting through complications.

His father Rob introduced his then nine-year-old son to junior late-model cars, which quickly became a passion.

Ollie went on to win races at the junior level, moving onto full-size stock-cars at age 13 and racing against adults in the Ontario Sportsman Series. Two years ago, Ollie earned the OSS’s  “Most Promising New Talent” award and the “Hard Charger” title for passing the most cars.

“I’m a pretty proud dad,” said Ferguson. “He has come a long way in his life. He’s fought a lot of battles — both on the track and off.”

Ferguson says Ollie  competing at Bowman Gray will be a ‘surreal’ moment for their family.

“Sometimes I just can’t even believe that we went from a little four-year-old kid racing his NASCARs on a couch who was too sick to be able to go outside,” recalled Ferguson. “And now he’s strapping into a sportsman at Bowman Gray Stadium in the madhouse classic.

“It’s kind of surreal, actually. To be honest, I still can’t believe we’re doing it.”

Last week, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes Brock MP Jamie Schmale presented a certificate of well-wishes to Ollie, acknowledging the youth’s fighting spirit.

“It’s pretty important to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of this young individual achieving so much so early in life,” said Schmale. “And to reach that scale, to be participating at a track that’s got so much history representing not only our community, but also our country, making us proud.”

Oillie says he’s thrilled to be one of a few Canadians to race at Bowman Gray next month, competing against older, more experienced drivers — all on a track he says leaves little room for error.

“Bowman Gray is just its own animal; like it’s a completely flat track, no banking, and it has pretty much no grip,” he said.

And he’ll have plenty of supporters and local sponsors cheering him on.

“When I walk through a crowd of people at the racetrack, they know who I am,” said Ollie. “And there’s little kids who run up to you and ask for your autograph or a hero card or a T-shirt or anything. And it’s just like, ‘this is super cool.’ Like you’re their superhero.

“It’s like how I used to think of, like, Kyle Busch as my superhero.”

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