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Speedweek: Ossenforts set the milestones
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FarkRAPID CITY — There’s been some history made at Black Hills Speedway in the last couple of weeks, thanks to the Ossenfort family of Rapid City.
Driving a pair of 360 sprint cars owned by their father Todd Ossenfort, Jacob, 16, and older sister Danielle, 19, have re-written the record books in a resurgent season of racing on the half-mile dirt oval east of Rapid City.
On August 2, Jacob became the youngest sprint car feature winner in the track’s known history, passing Adam Speckman of Rapid City with just a few laps left for the victory.
Then last Friday, Danielle, a former Rapid City Stevens High School gymnastics and track standout, became the first-ever female driver to win an official feature at the speedway.
Danielle credited former BHS sprint car champion Sam Liebig and her father and brother for standing behind her.
“It means a lot,” Danielle said. “It took three years and everyone just kept telling me, ‘it takes experience, it takes experience.’”
“We’re getting more experience setting up the cars and that just takes time,” said Jacob. “You’ve just got to work at it.”
Ironically, Jacob’s win came after Danielle had crashed out of the lead because of a freak mechanical failure.
The right-side exhaust header on her red No. 10 fell off in Turn 3, and she struck the debris on the next lap, causing her right-front tire to blow out.
The tire failure caused her car to veer out of control and strike the concrete retaining wall in Turn 4, putting her out of the race.
The start of Friday’s sprint car feature was a near-carbon copy of the previous week.
Danielle jumped into the lead and pulled out to a near straightaway advantage, before Speckman ground-looped his No. 4 in Turn 4, bringing out the caution.
The yellow flag erased Danielle’s lead and put her within range of three-time track champion Clint Anderson and two-time feature winner Matt Heinzerling, both of Belle Fourche.
“I was pretty nervous about the caution,” she said. “And of course, when you’re leading you think everyone’s right behind you.”
Danielle had been running the higher groove, but moved down to protect the low side. Anderson indeed tried the low groove, but couldn’t catch Ossenfort.
“I knew that on the restart I should protect the low, and that turned out to be a good decision, because that’s where Clint went, and he couldn’t get around me,” she said.
“It felt like he was right behind me the whole time,” she said. “I just tried to be smooth and consistent.”
In victory lane, Todd Ossenfort lifted his daughter in a bear-hug to the cheers of spectators.
“He was really excited,” Danielle said.
Jacob also had a hug for his sister.
“He was really a good sport, because last week I wasn’t very happy at all,” she said.
“I was really happy for her,” Jacob said. “She’s been working for it for a long time.”
The family is racing this weekend in New Mexico, with the American Sprint Car Series’ Rocky Mountain Region 360 sprint series, where Jacob is 7th in points and Danielle is 8th.
Jacob plans to race a few more times at BHS this season, while Danielle will return to Colorado State University, where she is a sophomore pursuing an engineering degree.
Danielle Ossenfort, left, has a lead on her brother, Jacob, in a 360 Sprints race at Black Hills Speedway. Jacob, 16, became the youngest driver to win at the speedway two weeks ago, and Danielle became the first woman to win at the track last week. (Courtesy photo)
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