Ronald Charles Fellows CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian former auto racing driver. A long-term Corvette factory driver, Fellows won the 24 Hours of Daytona overall in 2001, the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in class and the 12 Hours of Sebring four times in class. He is a three-time American Le Mans Series champion, winning the GTS title back-to-back in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Adjacently, Fellows won races in two of NASCAR's top three divisions as a road course ringer.
Early career Fellows was born in Windsor, Ontario, on September 28, 1959 and became interested in motorsports at four years old. After watching a Formula 1 race at Île Notre-Dame Circuit, Fellows began to idolize French-Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve.
Fellows began his racing career in karts before moving on to Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000. However, after running low on funds, he had to put his racing career on hold, becoming a gas pipeline worker for several years. Eventually, with the help of driving school instructor Richard Spenard, Fellows returned to racing, making his professional debut in 1986 in the Player's GM Challenge. In 1987, Fellows found success in the series, finishing second in the final standings following a 25-second time penalty at Shannonville Motorsport Park which saw Fellows go from first place to tenth place.
The following season, Fellows went into the seventh race as the points leader over Spenard. During the race, Fellows was involved in a wreck while running second place, knocking him out of the race and handing Spenard the race win and championship lead. Fellows was unable to regain the points lost in the final race of the season and finished runner-up in the standings for the second year in a row.
Sports car racing
1987–1997 Fellows began racing select races in the Trans-Am Series beginning in 1987. In his debut race at Road Atlanta, Fellows finished fourth, catching the eye of team owner Jack Roush. Fellows ran three races for Roush Racing in 1988, finishing fifth at Road America and St. Petersburg and third at Mosport.
In 1989, Fellows returned to Roush Racing for three races. After two straight third place finishes at Road Atlanta and Road America, Fellows became victorious for the first time in the Grand-Am Series at Mosport. Fellows also returned to the Player's GM Challenge in 1989, winning the championship.
The following year, Fellows returned to Grand-Am, driving 11 races for Roush. Despite failing to find victory lane, Fellows ended the season tenth in points, finishing on the podium three times. In 1990, Fellows also participated in the Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup Championship, clinching podium finishes at Shannonville and both Mosport races. He finished the season eighth in points.
1998–2001 In 1998, Fellows began his long association with GM's Corvette Racing program, with the historic Chevrolet Corvette C5R. He was also briefly involved with the development of the Cadillac LMP program. At the 2000 Rolex 24 at Daytona, he made history by setting the closest margin of victory in the history of the event, 31 seconds behind the winning Dodge Viper GTS-R of Olivier Beretta, Dominique Dupuy and Karl Wendlinger. Fellows and Corvette Racing fared better the next year, winning overall with Chris Kneifel, Johnny O'Connell, and Franck Fréon. Later that year, in June, Corvette Racing achieved its ultimate goal, a GTS class win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Scott Pruett and O'Connell. Corvette Racing also captured the American Le Mans Series GTS title that same year.
2002–2004 In 2002, the Corvette C5R once again dominated the American Le Mans Series season, with a GTS class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, along with a repeat of their 24 Hours of Le Mans GTS class victory. For the 2003 season, Corvette Racing won the American Le Mans Series GTS title with a very close win over the Prodrive Ferrari 550 team. In 2004, Corvette Racing continued to dominate the American Le Mans Series GTS class, including another GTS class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Fellows also competed in one NASCAR Cup Series race, at Watkins Glen, where he started 43rd and climbed his way up to second place.
2005 In 2005, Corvette Racing debuted the revolutionary Chevrolet Corvette C6R, at the 12 Hours of Sebring, with high expectations. A tire blow out erased their chances of capturing the GT1 (formerly GTS) win, with the Prodrive Aston Martin DBR9 taking the class win. However, later that year, Corvette Racing won their third 24 Hours of Le Mans class title in six years, beating the Aston Martin DBR9s with superior reliability and strategy. Although Fellows was not driving the winning Chevrolet Corvette C6R, he ran a respectable race in the No. 63 car.
2006 In 2006, Fellows returned for a full season with Corvette Racing. However, controversy surrounded the 2006 season as a result of IMSA's performance balancing. Corvette Racing's opposition during 2006 was the Prodrive Aston Martin team, which ran two full-season cars on Pirelli tires. The Pirelli tires were their undoing, as they were not as competitive as the Michelin tires on the Corvettes. Prodrive expressed their disdain for their disadvantage, and IMSA, the ALMS sanctioning body, introduced a number of penalties for the Corvette Racing team, to "balance" the performance. Despite this controversy, Fellows remained optimistic and still carried himself with the professionalism and class for which he is known. Despite the penalties, Corvette Racing prevailed, winning their fifth ALMS championship. Corvette Racing also won their fourth 24 Hours of Le Mans in six years. However, 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.
2007 Fellows returned to Corvette Racing in a limited supporting role in the American Le Mans Series. He was the third driver for the three long-distance races, and competed at Mosport, his home race. He sat out the other races, providing technical input and experienced advice to the team from behind the wall.
NASCAR Fellows has had various stints in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series, and Sprint Cup Series, as a "road course ringer". He has two wins and three poles in the Camping World Truck Series, winning twice at Watkins Glen. He has had even greater success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he has four wins and two poles in six starts. He was also the first non-American to win a NASCAR Nationwide Series event. As of November 22, 2011, Fellows held the record for most wins by a foreign-born driver in NASCAR's top three series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and trucks) with six – four in Nationwide and two in trucks.Ambrose 4th foreign driver to win
Fellows made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 1995 driving the No. 68 Chevy for Canaska Motorsports, owned by Victor Sifton. After he performed awfully during the race, Fellows stepped down from Cup racing to drive a part-time stint in the Craftsman Truck Series. Fellows did not return to the Cup series until 1998, driving the No. 96 Caterpillar Chevy for American Equipment Racing and Buzz McCall. Starting second alongside Jeff Gordon, Fellows had a promising start in the race, until he broke down from axle issues on lap 12, due to an oversight by a pit crew member, causing him to enter the garages for repairs and finish 42nd. He also 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. He finished 36th after starting dead last.
During the late 1990s, Fellows was a regular winner at Watkins Glen in the Truck Series, winning in 1997 and 1999. His first truck win in 1997 was for Billy Hess' No. 48 AER Manufacturing team and his last truck win in 1999 was for NEMCO Motorsports. A year after winning his first truck race, Fellows won his first Busch series event on June 28, 1998, leading the most laps during the 1998 Lysol 200. After polesitter Boris Said spun on lap one, Fellows took the lead and led 54 of 82 laps. Fellows held off Mike McLaughlin to win the race. In 1999, Fellows nearly repeated the win but got passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap. The following season, Fellows won the Lysol 200 again, holding off Corvette teammate Butch Leitzinger.
In August 1999, 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, Fellows led three laps, but was beaten by Gordon on the final restart. The following year, Fellows ran the Watkins Glen race again. Qualifying was cancelled because of rain and, because of a qualifying rule where NASCAR decided the remaining eight positions by drawing, Fellows was controversially given the 40th starting spot over full-time drivers such as Scott Pruett and Dave Marcis (despite that Pruett and Marcis had faster cars than Fellows). Fellows ran in the top fifteen in the race before suffering an engine failure on lap 23. Fellows returned to the No. 87 in 2001 driving both road courses. He 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. He 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. 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 talks with Dale Earnhardt about driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. full-time after 2001. It appeared that the full-time deal was sealed but Earnhardt was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500 prior to the agreement being fully consummated. 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 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 seventy laps to go. However, Fellows had his hopes end after being called onto pit road just after a caution came out with 38 laps to go. Restarting 31st, Fellows finished seventh. Though he 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. Fellows later revealed, in a 2025 interview, that he was once again offered the No. 1 ride full-time for 2005 and beyond; he declined the offer because of his tremendous success with the Corvette Racing program, combined that he would have been one of the oldest rookies in the Cup Series, when it would have been harder for him to transition from sports-car racing to stock car racing.
The following season, Fellows contested the 2005 Telcel Motorola 200 in Mexico City, for the inaugural Busch Series race there, driving the No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevy. He ended up finishing 41st after blowing an engine early on.