Ron Fellows

Ron Fellows (born 28 September 1959,  in  Windsor, Canada) is a Canadian motorsport driver who excelled in grand touring cars as an official driver of Chevrolet. He was champion of the American Le Mans Series in 2002, 2003 and 2004, was absolute winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona of 2001, and won class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans of 2001 and 2002 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He is also a mixed race specialist in the NASCAR national categories, where he won six races with Chevrolet models.

Beginnings and large passenger cars
Fellows trained in karting, Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000, after which he spent nine years off the track. He returned participating in the GM Canada Challenge in 1986, where he would compete the following years. He then contested Trans-Am, where he accumulated 19 victories and was champion in 1989. He also played some races of the IMSA GT Championship, achieving a victory with Rob Morgan in a Ferrari 333 SP on the date of Mosport from 1997.

In 1998, Fellows competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona with a Ferrari 333 SP of the CA class, where he dropped out. In the 1999 edition, he was an official Chevrolet driver and finished third in the GT2 class with a Chevrolet Corvette, accompanied by Chris Kneifel and John Paul Jr. Then, he played five rounds of the new American Le Mans Series for that team, in this case with a GTS-class Chevrolet Corvette. Together with Chris Kneifel, he achieved three podiums and was ninth in the drivers' championship. He also contested a contest date with an LMP class Riley & Scott Ford for the Dyson team, finishing sixth.

The Canadian continued in Chevrolet's program at the American Le Mans Series in 2000. He achieved a victory and four podiums, although he contested only half of the 12 races on the calendar, finishing eighth in the GTS drivers' championship. He also finished second overall in the 24 Hours of Daytona of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and fourth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an official Chevrolet Corvette, alongside Kneifel and Justin Bell.

In 2001, Fellows teamed up with Johnny O'Connell on the Corvette team. He won five races and was on the podium in two more of the American Le Mans Series. However, missing two races had to settle for third place in the GTS drivers' championship, behind two drivers from Saleen. The team was consoled by the GTS teams title. Instead, he achieved outright victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona in a GTO-class Chevrolet Corvette, with O'Connell, Kneifel and Franck Fréon, and victory in the GTS class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with O'Connell. and Scott Pruett as seatmates.

Fellows and O'Connell won seven races out of ten in the 2002 American Le Mans Series season, including the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans with the help of Oliver Gavin as third driver, so the Canadian was crowned GTS class drivers and teams champion. All three also won the GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2003 they achieved three victories and seven podiums in nine races, with a further triumph at the 12 Hours of Sebring alongside Fréon as the greatest achievement. Thus, the duo obtained the team title and Corvette retained the team title. Likewise, the three finished third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2004, Fellows won five American Le Mans Series races and took the podium at nine. He again won the 12 Hours of Sebring, this time with Max Papis as third driver, and together with O'Connell he defeated his teammates Gavin and Olivier Beretta in the fight for the drivers' title. by GTS. The trio finished third in the GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The situation was reversed in the 2005 American Le Mans Series season, now with the class renamed to GT1: Fellows and O'Connell won three races and were runners-up, to Gavin and Beretta's six victories. With Papis as third driver, the Canadian and the American finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, achieving 1-2 in the Gt1 class for Corvette. On the other hand, the Canadian returned to contest a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race, specifically the Mid-Ohio date in a Pontiac GTO of the GT class for The Racers Group with Paul Edwards.

Aston Martin officially entered the GT1 class of the American Le Mans Series in 2006, and they became rivals to match the Corvette. Fellows and O'Connell won a single race and placed fifth in the drivers' championship, behind their teammates and one of the Aston Martin pairs (Tomáš Enge and Stéphane Sarrazin), taking advantage of that the other two Aston Martin drivers (Pedro Lamy and Darren Turner) were absent for one race each. Counting again with Papis as third driver, they finished seventh in the GT1 class and far behind in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Canadian competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Sears Point date of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, now in a Riley Pontiac prototype from the Derhaag team.

Jan Magnussen replaced Fellows as O'Connell's seatmate on the Corvette team for the 2007 American Le Mans Series season. The Canadian raced alongside them in the three most prestigious endurance races of the ACO: he finished second in the 12 Hours of Sebring, second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and dropped out at Petit Le Mans. He also had a third Corvette on the Mosport date, finishing third alongside Andy Pilgrim.

Fellows again joined O'Connell and Magnussen in all three endurance races in 2008, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans and finishing second for the fourth time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also competed on three Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series dates in a Pontiac G6 of the GT class, finishing fourth at Lime Rock alongside Magnussen. It was his last year as an official Corvette driver.

In 2010, Fellows won two SCCA World Challenge races in a GT-class Chevrolet Corvette.

NASCAR
Since 1995, Fellows has frequently competed in national category races on mixed circuits, always with Chevrolet models. He is the foreigner with the most combined victories in the NASCAR national categories.

In 25 participations in the Watkins Glen and  Sears Point dates of the NASCAR Cup, he achieved two second places as best results at Watkins Glen 1999 and 2004, a fourth at Watkins Glen 2007, a seventh at Sears Point 2003 and an eighth at Sears Point 2005. In the 25 races of the NASCAR Nationwide Series he played, he visited Watkins Glen, Mexico,  Montreal, Road America and Mid-Ohio. He had three wins at Watkins Glen 1998, 2000 and 2001 plus one at Montreal 2008, another six top-fives and three additional top-10s, plus two pole positions.

The Canadian competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races in 1997, five in 1998 and four in 1999, notching two victories at Watkins Glen in 1997 and 1998, plus a seventh place at Fort Worth 1998. His last participation in the category was at Watkins Glen 2000, where he finished third.

In August of 1999, Ron Fellows had his career-best finish at Watkins Glen driving the No. 87 Chevy for Joe Nemechek. In his only scheduled NASCAR Cup series race for 1999 for the Frontier at the Glen, Ron Fellows led 3 laps, but was beaten by Jeff Gordon on the final restart. Ron Fellows returned to the No. 87 in 2001 driving both road courses. A promising run at Sears Point Raceway, in which he led the most laps, Fellows finished 38th after crashing with 14 laps to go. He later led 3 laps at Watkins Glen during the 2001 Global Crossing at the Glen but finished 42nd after breaking his axles on lap 30 of 90. His only start in 2002 was at Sears Point Raceway, in which he finished 25th in his last race for Joe Nemechek.

In 2000, Fellows was in talk with Dale Earnhardt about driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. full-time after 2001. it appeared that the full-time deal was sealed up but Earnhardt was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500 prior to being fully connsumated, which left the deal invalid. In 2003 however, Fellows was remembered by Ty Norris, the DEI co-owner, and he was hired for the road races to drive the No. 1 car.

In 2003 at Infineon, during the Dodge/Save Mart 350, Fellows had his career's nearest near-miss. Fellows started third, and took advantage of a battle between Richard Childress Racing teammates Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick to take the lead. Fellows led a lot of laps, and controlled the race with less than 70 laps to go. However Fellows had his sure-win end for good after being called into pit road just after an untimely caution came out with 38 laps to go. Restarting 31st, Fellows finished 7th. Though Fellows has finished second twice at the Glen, Fellows stated in 2006 and 2013 that the 2003 Dodge Save-Mart 350 was the closest he had been to winning because he was dominant at Sonoma while in the Watkins Glen finishes, he lacked the proper speed.

In 2004, Fellows had one of his greatest performances. Because qualifying was cancelled due to rain, the lineup for the Watkins Glen event was decided by owner-points. Fellows started 43rd and finished second behind winner Tony Stewart. Fellows did challenge Stewart on the final restart but all of his speed was worn out by his charge through the field. The following season, Ron contested the 2005 Telcel Motorola 200 in Mexico City, for the inaugural Busch Series race there, driving the #87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevy. He ended up finishing 41st after blowing an engine early on.

In 2005 and 2006, Fellows drove the No. 32 car for Cal Wells and PPI Motorsports at Infineon and Watkins Glen. After starting 43rd at Sonoma he finished 8th. In 2006, Fellows had originally finished 10th during the AMD at the Glen, but was penalized 30 seconds hours after the race ended, for having illegally made passes through the "bus stop". The Tide team later closed up shop after the year was over, throwing Fellows out of his part-time ride.

In 2007, Fellows joined Hall of Fame Racing as driver for the road races. In a similar performance to the 2003 Infineon race, Fellows led a bit of the race after passing in a 3-wide move, and lost the lead after having to pit during a caution. Fellows finished 15th. After starting 26th at Watkins Glen, Fellows moved up to fourth. Fellows probably would have had a shot at the win had he not gotten a speeding on pit road penalty on lap 55 and had to restart 40th. But in a challenging rough drive through the field, Fellows finished 4th.

During 2006 and 2007, Fellows drove the No. 33 Busch series car for Kevin Harvick Incorporated, driving the road course races in Mexico City, Montreal, and Watkins Glen. In 2006, Fellows led 1 lap in Mexico City, but finished 33rd after blowing a radiator with less than 10 laps to go. Fellows picked up a top ten at Watkins Glen, finishing 9th. In 2007, Fellows renewed his deal for one more year to drive for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the No. 33 for the NBS road course events. In Mexico, Fellows didn't have a promising race, finishing 33rd after blowing an engine with less than 15 laps to go.

At the first NBS race at Montreal, he drove a good race, starting 3rd in the No. 33 Camping World.com car. After spinning out with less than 9 laps to go, Fellows mounted his best drive of the race during the final green-white-checkered finish attempt; he drove from 14th place to 4th place in two laps. His boss Kevin Harvick ended up winning the race because of Robby Gordon and rookie Marcos Ambrose's altercation. The next week, at Watkins Glen, he controlled the race early, leading 11 laps, but ended up 24th after tangling with fellow road ringer Scott Pruett on the final lap.

In 2008, Fellows only raced in one event, driving his first race for JR Motorsports. Fellows, in his only start of 2008, won a rain-shortened NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the No. 5 car at Montreal. He won after Marcos Ambrose was black-flagged for slipping across the soaked pit road too fast just before the red flag flew. This race made history as the first points paying race to be run on Goodyear rain tires. NASCAR races are generally red flagged for rain. This victory marked Ron's fourth NASCAR Nationwide series win, all coming on road courses. This also tied him for first in the Nationwide Series for most road course wins. He is tied with Terry Labonte with 4. Fellows was very emotional about his win because his lifelong childhood dream was to win a professional car race at Montreal since his childhood hero Gilles Villeneuve raced at the track when he watched from the stadium. As a result of his big win Fellows was given the No. 5 JR Motorsports crew for a multi-year deal. He drove for JR Motorsports through 2009 and 2010 for the road course races. Fellows didn't have any promising races in 2009, but came back to the No. 88 team in 2010 to finish second at Road America. Fellows returned to JR Motorsports in 2011 for the road course races, driving the #7 AER car. He was in contention to win the Bucyrus 200 at Road America. He took the lead from Justin Allgaier, who had run out of fuel previously, passing Reed Sorenson in the process. However, NASCAR ruled that Fellows had passed both drivers under the caution flag way too fast. Believing that Sorenson slowed due to also being out of fuel, Fellows drove past them at nearly race speed until he was leading the caution to the pace lap, though NASCAR rules stipulate that a driver must maintain reasonable speed while under the caution flag (Speeding is not reasonable caution speed anymore). As a result, Fellows was relegated to second place post-race, handing the win to Sorenson. Fellows said post-race that he should have won, although a year later, he admitted in a pre-race interview that NASCAR made the right call.

During 2010 and 2011, Fellows drove the No. 36 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Cup series, but only at Watkins Glen. After running most of the 2010 Heluva Good at the Glen in the top twenty, Fellows suffered a blown engine and finished 40th. In 2011, Fellows only ran at Watkins Glen, driving the No. 36 Golden Corral car for Baldwin. Fellows wasn't much of a factor in the race. While running 25th on the final lap, Fellows got tangled in a final-lap crash involving David Ragan, and David Reutimann, crashing head-on into a barrier in the esses. He finished 30th.

The next year, Fellows couldn't land a ride for the Sprint Cup series but ran the Nationwide Series road course races for JR Motorsports. Fellows led 4 laps at Road America and finished 3rd. He finished 5th at Watkins Glen and 5th in Montreal. In 2013, Fellows ran his last race with JRM at the inaugural race in Mid-Ohio before parting ways with the team at year's end.

Fellows returned to the Cup series in 2013. He drove the No. 33 car for Circle Sport Racing. His best finish was at Infineon Raceway, when he finished 22nd.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )