Ron Fellows

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

When funds for these projects ran low, he left racing for a nine-year stint as gas pipeline worker.

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

Ronald Charles Fellows CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian retired auto racing driver.

Fellows was born in Windsor, Ontario, on September 28, 1959.

At age four, he became interested in auto racing with his family.

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

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

To attend F1 races at a young age, Fellows went to watch them at a local track on an island in Montreal, Canada; a track that eventually would be named "Circuit Gilles Villeneuve".

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

When Villeneuve died in 1982 the track was named after Villeneuve himself.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

He 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.

He also 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.

Fellows' current goal for his track is to bring the Cup Series to the track someday.

Fellows is married to Lynda Fellows and has three kids: Lyndsay, Sam, and Patrick Fellows.

Ron is a close friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom he has previously driven for in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

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