67 Facts About Ron Fellows

Ronald Charles Fellows CM was born on September 28,1959 and is a Canadian retired auto racing driver.

Ron Fellows found a love for French-Canadian Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Ron Fellows has one of the biggest collections of Gilles Villeneuve merchandise in Canada and called Villeneuve his idol.

Ron Fellows developed a dream to win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when he became a racing driver.

Ron Fellows accomplished his goal in 2008, winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the track, the NAPA Auto Parts 200.

Besides his racing career, Fellows owns a corporate business chain, the Ron Fellows Performance Driving Schools, and is one of the owners of car brand Corvette as well as Corvette's racing operations.

Ron Fellows owns a charity called the Sunoco-Ron Fellows Karting Championship, to help young kids become race-car drivers.

In January 2013, Ron Fellows purchased the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park racetrack and NASCAR hosted a truck series race there-the first time since 2000 that the truck series came to a road course.

Jacques Villeneuve, who was a student in a racing school with Ron Fellows, is a close friend.

Ron Fellows began his career in karts, which led to Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000.

Ron Fellows returned to the track in the 1980s with help from driving school instructor Richard Spenard.

Ron Fellows made his professional debut in 1986 in the Player's GM Challenge, driving a showroom stock Chevrolet Camaro.

Ron Fellows had a dominant 1989 season, capturing both the title at Mosport Park and his first SCCA Trans-Am Series race during the same weekend.

Ron Fellows's career improved as he became one of the most successful drivers in the history of Trans Am, with 19 wins in 95 starts.

Ron Fellows then had two starts in the legendary Ferrari 333SP, including a 1997 win at Mosport Park in the IMSA GT Championship.

In 1998, Ron Fellows began his long association with GM's Corvette Racing program, with the historic Chevrolet Corvette C5R.

Ron Fellows was briefly involved with the development of the Cadillac LMP program.

Ron Fellows competed in one NASCAR Cup Series race, at Watkins Glen, where he started 43rd and climbed his way up to second place.

In 2006, Ron Fellows returned for a full season with Corvette Racing.

However, Ron Fellows did not have the best luck in 2006, with the title going to the sister car driven by Jan Magnussen, Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin.

Ron Fellows returned to Corvette Racing in a limited supporting role in the American Le Mans Series.

Ron Fellows was the third driver for the three long-distance races, and competed at Mosport, his home race.

Ron Fellows sat out the other races, providing technical input and experienced advice to the team from behind the wall.

Ron Fellows has had various stints in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series, and Sprint Cup Series, as a "road course ringer".

Ron Fellows has two wins and three poles in the Camping World Truck Series, winning twice at Watkins Glen.

Ron Fellows has had even greater success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he has four wins and two poles in six starts.

Ron Fellows was the first non-American to win a NASCAR Nationwide Series event.

Ron Fellows made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 1995 driving the No 68 Chevy for Canaska Motorsports, owned by Victor Sifton.

Ron Fellows did not return to the Cup series until 1998, driving the No 96 Caterpillar Chevy for American Equipment Racing and Buzz McCall.

Ron Fellows ran an oval race in the same car-at Loudon which happens to be his single race he's run that is not a road course.

In 1999, Ron Fellows nearly repeated the win but got passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Qualifying was cancelled because of rain and, because of a qualifying rule where NASCAR decided the remaining 8 positions by drawing, Ron Fellows was controversially given the 40th starting spot over full-time drivers such as Scott Pruett and Dave Marcis.

Ron Fellows would run in the top-15 in the race before suffering an engine failure on lap 23.

Ron Fellows returned to the No 87 in 2001 driving both road courses.

Ron Fellows had a promising run at Sears Point Raceway, in which he led the most laps but finished 38th after crashing with 14 laps to go.

Ron Fellows later led three laps at Watkins Glen during the 2001 Global Crossing at the Glen but finished 42nd after breaking his axles on lap 30 of 90.

Ron Fellows's only start in 2002 was at Sears Point Raceway, in which he finished 25th in his last race for Joe Nemechek.

In 2000, Ron Fellows was in talks with Dale Earnhardt about driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc full-time after 2001.

In 2003 however, Ron Fellows was remembered by Ty Norris, the DEI co-owner, and he was hired for the road races to drive the No 1 car.

Ron Fellows led a lot of laps, and controlled the race with less than 70 laps to go.

However Ron Fellows had his hopes end after being called onto pit road just after a caution came out with 38 laps to go.

Ron Fellows started 43rd and finished second behind winner Tony Stewart.

Ron Fellows did challenge Stewart on the final restart but all of his speed was worn out by his charge through the field.

Ron Fellows ended up finishing 41st after blowing an engine early on.

In 2005 and 2006, Ron Fellows drove the No 32 car for Cal Wells and PPI Motorsports at Infineon and Watkins Glen.

In 2006, Ron 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".

In 2007, Ron Fellows joined Hall of Fame Racing as driver for the road races.

In 2006, Ron Fellows led one lap in Mexico City, but finished 33rd after blowing a radiator with less than 10 laps to go.

Ron Fellows picked up a top ten at Watkins Glen, finishing 9th.

In 2007, Ron 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, Ron Fellows did not have a promising race, finishing 33rd after blowing an engine with less than 15 laps to go.

In 2008, Ron Fellows only raced in one event, driving his first race for JR Motorsports.

Ron Fellows won after Marcos Ambrose was black-flagged for slipping across the soaked pit road too fast just before the red flag flew.

Ron 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.

Ron Fellows drove for JR Motorsports through 2009 and 2010 for the road course races.

Ron Fellows did not have any promising races in 2009, but came back to the No 88 team in 2010 to finish second at Road America.

Ron Fellows returned to JR Motorsports in 2011 for the road course races, driving the No 7 AER car.

Ron Fellows was in contention to win the Bucyrus 200 at Road America.

Ron Fellows took the lead from Justin Allgaier, who had run out of fuel previously, passing Reed Sorenson in the process.

However, NASCAR ruled that Ron Fellows had passed both drivers under the caution flag too fast.

Ron 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.

In 2011, Ron Fellows only ran at Watkins Glen, driving the No 36 Golden Corral car for Baldwin.

Ron Fellows led four laps at Road America and finished third.

Ron Fellows finished fifth at Watkins Glen and fifth in Montreal.

In 2013, Ron Fellows ran his last race with JRM at the inaugural race in Mid-Ohio before parting ways with the team at year's end.

Ron Fellows drove the No 33 car for Circle Sport Racing.

On December 31,2019, as part of the New Year Honours, Ron Fellows was awarded the Order of Canada, for "outstanding work in multi-disciplinary roles in motor-racing".