Corvette Racing Driver Profile: Ron Fellows

Ron Fellows Birthdate: Sept. 28 1959
Birthplace: Windsor, Ont., Canada
Residence: Mississauga, Ont.
Family: Wife Lynda, children Lindsay, Sam, Patrick
Notable: Four-time ALMS Most Popular Driver award (2004 - 07), three-time ALMS champion, two 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, 19 SCCA Trans-Am wins, five NASCAR wins (2 NCTS, 3 NNS)
Web site: www.ronfellows.com

American Le Mans Series Career Record
Year Starts Wins Fast
Qualifier		 Notes
1999 6 0 1 First season for Corvette Racing
2000 6 1 4  
2001 8 5 2  
2002 10 7 6 GTS driver champion
2003 9 3 0 GTS driver co-champion (with O'Connell)
2004 9 5 1 GTS driver co-champion (with O'Connell)
2005 10 3 1 Runner-up in GT1 championship
2006 10 1 1 Fourth in GT1 championship
2007 2 0 0 Ran endurance races and Mosport
Total 70 25 16  


24 Hours of Le Mans Record
Year Finish Class Car Co-drivers
2000 4th GTS Corvette C5-R Kneifel, Bell
2001 1st GTS Corvette C5-R O'Connell, Pruett
2002 1st GTS Corvette C5-R O'Connell, Gavin
2003 3rd GTS Corvette C5-R O'Connell, Freon
2004 2nd GTS Corvette C5-R O'Connell, Papis
2005 2nd GT1 Corvette C6.R O'Connell, Papis
2006 7th GT1 Corvette C6.R O'Connell, Papis
2007 2nd GT1 Corvette C6.R O'Connell, Magnussen


Career Highlights
  • Two NASCAR Craftsman Truck wins
  • Three NASCAR Busch Grand National wins
  • 19 career SCCA Trans-Am wins
  • 1989: GM Player's Challenge champion, runner-up in 1987-88
  • 1997: Overall winner, Mosport IMSA WSC (Ferrari)
  • 2000: First win for Corvette Racing (Texas)
  • 2001: Overall winner in Rolex 24 at Daytona, GTS winner in 24 Hours of Le Mans, five ALMS wins (Texas, Sonoma, Portland, Mosport, Mid-Ohio)
  • 2002: GTS winner in 24 Hours of Le Mans, ALMS GTS champion, seven ALMS wins (Sebring, Sonoma, Mid-Ohio, Washington D.C., Mosport, Miami, Atlanta)
  • 2003: ALMS GTS co-champion (with O'Connell), three ALMS wins (Sebring, Sonoma, Mosport)
  • 2004: ALMS GTS co-champion (with O'Connell), five ALMS wins (Sebring, Mid-Ohio, Sonoma, Portland, Laguna Seca), one SCCA SPEED World Challenge win with Team Cadillac (Mosport). Voted "Most Popular Driver" by ALMS fans.
  • 2005: Runner-up in ALMS GT1 championship, three ALMS wins (Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Sonoma); one SCCA SPEED World Challenge win with Team Cadillac (Mosport). Voted "Most Popular Driver" by ALMS fans for second consecutive year.
  • 2006: One ALMS win (Road America), one SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT win with Team Cadillac (Long Beach). Voted "Most Popular Driver" by ALMS fans for unprecedented third consecutive year.
  • 2007: Ran endurance races (Sebring, Le Mans) and Mosport round with Corvette Racing; one pole and two runner-up finishes in SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT with Team Cadillac. Voted "Most Popular Driver" by ALMS fans for unprecedented fourth straight year. Ran selected NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series road races, finishing fourth in Montreal and Watkins Glen

Ron Fellows is a charter member of the championship-winning Corvette Racing team. He did the initial testing and development with the Corvette C5-R, and scored Corvette Racing's first ALMS victory in September 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway. Fellows is recognized as one of North America's most versatile road racing drivers; winning in series that span the spectrum of motorsports, from NASCAR to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Fellows developed an early love for auto racing, competing first in karts, followed by Formula 1600 and Formula 2000. After a nine-year stint as a gas pipeline worker, he returned to racing in the early '80s and launched his professional driving career. Fellows found early success in his first level of professional competition, the Player's/GM Challenge series for production Camaros, where he won the drivers championship in 1989.

Fellows' success continued in SCCA Trans-Am racing, where he won 19 races in 95 starts. He performed with distinction in sports prototype racing, NASCAR Craftsman Truck, NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. In the late '90s Fellows became the primary development driver for GM Racing's Corvette C5-R program. That association produced victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, and virtually every road racing circuit in North America.

Fellows won the ALMS GTS drivers championship in 2002 and shared the title with teammate Johnny O'Connell in 2003-04. He and O'Connell finished as runners-up in the GT1 drivers championship to their Corvette Racing teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta in 2005 and 2007. In addition to his duties with the factory Corvette Racing program, the Canadian also competed in selected NASCAR Cup events, consistently piloting a Chevrolet to the front of the pack in road racing events. He won back-to-back SCCA SPEED World Challenge races at Mosport in 2004-05 driving Team Cadillac's CTS-V race car, and scored a spectacular win at Long Beach in 2006 with a last-lap pass.

In 2007, Fellows began a new phase in his career as an ambassador for Corvette and a technical advisor to GM Racing. He focused on endurance events with teammates Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen, and ran the Mosport round of the ALMS at his home track with former teammate Andy Pilgrim. Fellows drove the final stint at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a downpour, gaining as much as 30 seconds per lap on the class-leading Aston Martin before a safety car period ended his charge to the front. Fellows also drove a Cadillac CTS-V in selected SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT races, winning the pole in Long Beach, Calif., and finishing as runner-up in Toronto and Atlanta.

Fans voted Fellows "Most Popular Driver" in the ALMS in 2004-07 - the only driver to win the prestigious award four consecutive times. He was named to the AARWBA All America Racing Team in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2007, Chevrolet introduced the limited edition Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Corvette Z06, the first signed special edition in Corvette's history. A resident of Mississauga, Ontario, he has been instrumental in setting up the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship, a series that helps young Canadian drivers make a connection to professional racing.