Oliver Sackett may be just 13 years old, but he didn’t think about that last Friday. He started seventh in the B-modified feature and passed racers many more years older. His efforts earned him his first win in a full-sized car, coming at Rapid Speedway.
“The majority of the racers I passed were a lot older than me, but they didn’t worry me at all,” Oliver, of Pierson, Iowa, said. “I trust my own driving ability. There were a lot of drivers shaking my hand when the race was over. People were cheering and clapping on the catwalk when I went under it.”
Sackett grew up in a racing household. His father, Justin, raced modifieds since 2004. He gave it up last year to concentrate on his son’s career.
“Oliver has been going along with us since he was able to walk,” said Justin. “He was with my dad, Rick, and I while we were working on my cars.”
Justin came to the realization that his son was able to wheel a full-size car after being successful in winged karts.
“It was the end of 2023 that I put a seat in my modified that was for him, so that he could drive in practice at Park Jefferson Speedway,” Justin said. “He did way better than I expected. The main thing I watched was his throttle control, which is huge. He kept the car under control from the get-go.”
Oliver, then 12, took three more practice sessions in the beginning of 2024.
“His lap times were in the ballpark,” said Justin. “They got better and better. From being around racing his whole life, he knows what he feels. He can convey when his car is too tight, or too loose. He works in the shop — he’s all in.”
Last Friday, Oliver Sackett took the race lap by lap en route to his win.
“When I won, I didn’t know how many laps were done in the feature until I saw the white flag come out,” Oliver said. “Then I realized that I was close to winning.”
After taking the checkers, Justin was the first to congratulate Oliver.
“When I won it was a really cool feeling — I wanted to see my father first,” said Oliver. “I worked with him for a long time and a lot of hard work went into this win.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
