Ron Fellows

Full Name: Ron Fellows
Birthdate: Sept. 28 1959
Birthplace: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Residence: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Family: Wife Lynda, children Lindsay, Sam, Patrick
Corvette Racing: 1999 – 2008
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

Ron Fellows – Corvette Racing

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.

Ron Fellows is one of the founding members of the championship-winning Corvette Racing team. He did the initial testing and development with the Corvette C5R, and scored Corvette Racing’s first ALMS victory in September 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway along side Andy Pilgrim.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Fellows developed an early love for auto racing, competing first in karts, followed by Formula 1600 and Formula 2000. Lack of funds and heavy debt sidelined his efforts, but after nine years doing natural gas pipeline work, Ron recovered from his financial woes and was ready to take another shot. He returned to the track with the help of Richard Spenard (Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Inductee), who employed him at the Spenard/David Racing School.

He returned to racing in the early ’80s and launched his professional driving career in the Player’s/GM Challenge series. Fellows found early success in this his first level of professional competition, where he won the drivers championship in 1989, during a career stretching from 1986 to 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 Busch Grand National, and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Fellows was voted the “Most Popular Driver” in the ALMS by fans in 2004 and 2005. He was named to the AARWBA All America Racing Team in 2002, 2003 and 2004. A resident of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 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.

In 2001 Ron became the first Canadian ever to win the 24 Hours of Daytona when he won the race overall driving the C5R for Corvette Racing.

After leaving Corvette Racing at the end of the 2008 season Ron went on to start the Ron Fellows driving school at Spring Mountain Resort in Pahrump, NV and he was also part of a consortium that purchased Mosport and renamed it Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Ron Fellows 24 Hours of Le Mans Race History

Courtesy of Nigel S. Dobbie, Author of Corvette Racing: The GT1 Years