About Olliestrong Racing

Olliestrong Racing is a Pro Late Model race team, based in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. There is a lot of history associated to the name Olliestrong, as it comes from the original social media page which was made to support Ollie Ferguson through his unbelievable battle he endured as a child.

When Ollie was 4, he cut his toe at a fair, and caught a virus that attacked his liver. He was hospitalized for 3 weeks and given an immune suppressant, which was prescribed for too long, and eventually killed his immune system entirely, putting him into bone marrow failure, which is called Aplastic Anemia. It was dicovered that he had 3 kidney stones then as well. After 9 months of failed treatment attempts, his illness progressed to Myelodysplasia Monosomy 7, a very rare type of bone marrow cancer. He would need a bone marrow transplant to save his life. 

Ollie's family searched high and low for the right team to treat him. After discussions with drs around the world, and a week-long stay at the NIH (National Institute of Health) in Bethesda, MD in the United States, it was decided to have his bone marrow transplant at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the best hospital in the world. His family sold their house in Toronto and headed to Cincinnati, where they lived in the Ronald McDonald House for almost 6 months. 

Ollie had his bone marrow transplant, with his little sister Scarlett, as his life-saving donor, on September 2, 2016. For the 5 weeks after, he developed an infection called Typhlitis, and he was given a 10% chance of survival. It was 5 weeks of immeasurable pain, but Ollie is a fighter, a warrior. At Day + 35, he woke up and said he felt better, and from that moment on, he set records with how fast he recovered! Scarlett's super cells were working their miracle. After nearly 6 months, Ollie's family returned to Canada, settling in London, Ontario.

A race fan since birth, Ollie got his first racecar at 9 years old, a Jr. Late Model. He won a Dash 4 Cash, a Pole Award and a Feature all in his first season, on his way to winning 2019 Rookie Of The Year. After 4 years and a couple more wins, Ollie moved to the Ontario Sportsman Series, full-size stock cars. He again won Rookie Of The Year at only 13 years old, and then became the youngest winner in OSS history at only 14, in a runaway victory and leading 50 of the 100 laps at Sauble Speedway. He finished the 2024 season with 5 podium finishes. 

One of the things that helped Ollie get through his battle, was watching races on YouTube. He fell in love with Bowman Gray Stadium, in Winston-Salem NC. The Madhouse. Ollie attended his first race at The Madhouse in 2023, and met the driver of the 55 car, Zack Ore, who would be the 2024 Sportsman Champion. Zack would become a huge influence and a very good friend to Ollie and family. In 2024, Zack prepared another Sportsman car for Ollie to race at the Stadium, where he would live his dream of actually competing at The Madhouse. Ollie started Pole and led 3 laps before getting moved and then destroyed in a wreck halfway through the race. But he had the time of his life, and the Stadium had its hooks in Ollie. 

2025 saw a new chapter again. An older Pro Late Model was purchased and a very up and down season began. Wanting to compete at a higher level in  2026, a new Pro Late Model was built at McColls, and we have embarked on a new adventure at the top of the racing world, fine tuning and learning with some of the best drivers and teams in Ontario. Although the finishes didn't reflect the performance, Ollie did have 2 podiums and ran at the front in every race.

2026 also saw the return to Bowman Gray Stadium. Zack asked Ollie to race his 55 car for him at the NASCAR Clash weekend, as Zack wasn't able  to race. This would be racing not only in front of 18,000 fans, but millions more watching on tv. Unfortunately, Mother Nature dropped 12 inches of snow on raceday and the race was cancelled. The season began April 18, and Zack tagged Ollie again to race his car. Ollie did fantastic, bringing the car home in 8th of 21 cars, and without a scratch on it. Then in August 2026, Ollie headed back down to NC, this time to drive the 18 car. After starting 2nd, he was caught up in a lap 2 wreck which destroyed the car. It only made him want to go back and race more, with something to prove. 

Let's see what happens in 2027!!