Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Ron Fellows idolized Gilles Villeneuve, the fiery Canadian runner-up 1979 world champion. But as Ron grew taller, he felt he was too tight a fit for a Formula 1 car, at least for the cars at that time. After working in the gas fields, Ron began racing sports cars.
Some years later in 1999, he caught the eye of Gary Pratt who GM hired to operate its new the new Corvette Racing Team. Ron won his share of races in the C5.R and C6.R models which led to serving as GM Ambassador for his easy demeanor and natural way with people.
With retirement in the cards, the Corvette Racing Team honored Ron with this C6.R # 33 Corvette trimmed in white.
GM offered enthusiasts a Ron Fellows special edition 2009 C6 Corvette they could order from dealers.
Ron received an interest in Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, (formerly known as Mosport), granted by billionaire owners Carlo Fidani & Allan Boughton.
He holds naming rights for the Ron Fellows Racing School at the Spring Mountain resort in NV.
Meanwhile NASCAR team owners hired Ron to be their “ringer” in cars and trucks on road circuits.
Team owners doing the SCCA World Challenge series and the Trans Am series hired Ron to race their Corvettes.
Ongoing tribute comes from owners who put Ron in the driver’s seat of their vintage Corvette race cars.
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Ron teamed up with John Paul Jr. and Chris Kneifel to win the GT2 class in the ARRC at the Daytona 24-hour race in 1999. This was the first outing for the C5.R chassis 001 shown here clad in black & silver that drew sponsorship monies from GM Goodwrench dealers.
Ron was behind the wheel in 2000 at Texas World Speedway for the Corvette’s first win in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) founded by the ebullient entrepreneur Don Panoz and his millions of dollars.
In one of the more memorable outcomes, Ron Fellows (CDN), Johnny O’Connell (USA), Chris Kneifel (USA) and Franck Freon (FR) in the GTS class # 2 C5.R Corvette outdistanced the faster prototype cars to become the OVERALL winner at the 2001 FIA Daytona 24-hour race.
That win was bittersweet as Dale Earnhardt Sr, (teamed with Dale Junior and Andy Pilgrim in the # 3 C5.R Corvette), was killed a few weeks later in the last turn on the final lap of the NASCAR Daytona 500. The crash remains a mystery to this day.
Dave Roberts, the savvy owner of the Carlyle Holding Company, hired Ron and Mike Skeen in 2008, to share a C6 Z06 Corvette in the SCCA Pro World Challenge Series that advertised Cragar wheels.
Team owner and car builder Jim Derhaag snatched Ron to drive a C6 GT1 (Corvette-styled body on a tube frame chassis) in the 2016 Trans Am series at CTMP, Ron’s home track, where he won easily. These “modern relics” are powered by 366 cubic-inch SB-2 styled NASCAR style engines that make 850+ hp.
Later that year, Ron was back in the C6 Z06 SCCA World Challenge Corvette of Dave Roberts, now in red and renumbered # 02 at the vintage HSR Classic 24 at Daytona.
Wallis Owens reached out to Ron to pilot his C4 1987 ex-Gregg Pickett Trans Am/IMSA GTO Protofab Corvette, celebrating the marque’s 70th anniversary at the 2023 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion where he won his class.
Photo credits: Ron Kielbiski, Remy Solnon, Richard Prince, Matthew Boyce, Rex McAfee, Larry VanScoy
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