Legendary Driver Fellows Fulfills Lifelong Dream by Finally Racing at Brickyard
June 16, 2018 | By Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
His first love in racing was open-wheel cars and he once hoped to race in the Indianapolis 500, so there’s no overstating how Ron Fellows is ecstatic to spend this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Fellows, the legendary 58-year-old Canadian road racer, emerged today from a No. 2 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with a rather satisfied smile after his first practice session for the Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented by RACER Magazine on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at IMS. The race, at 1 p.m. Saturday, is one of the feature events during the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational this weekend.
“Indy is Indy,” Fellows said. “To be here and get to actually drive on the track is awesome. The Indy 500 was definitely one of the bucket-list races to try to be a part of, but it just didn’t work out for me.”
He’s teaming up with amateur Dave Roberts in this much-anticipated opportunity. The field of Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) competitors in 1963 to 1972 vintage Corvette, Camaro and Mustang muscle cars includes 21 “500” veterans, most notably two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr.
One of those drivers is longtime Indy car racer and team owner Dick Simon, who at 84 will be making his final drive Saturday in the race. Fellows recalled a conversation about teaming up to drive for Simon in the 1997 Indy 500, but it never panned out.
While standing in an IMS garage, Fellows admitted he regretted not pursuing that ride with more interest. That’s saying something, considering he can proudly say he made a living doing what he loved and distinguished himself with victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, Rolex 24 at Daytona as well as two American Le Mans Series titles and triumphs in four NASCAR Xfinity Series races and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
“I was turning 40, and I just didn’t think that a 40-year-old rookie at Indy was probably that smart of a thing to do,” Fellows said. “That would be a regret, not pursuing it.”
This weekend wasn’t his first time on the IMS track. Also highly regarded for running a successful performance driving school, Fellows came to Indianapolis in May to counsel Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo on driving the Corvette Pace Car for the Indy 500. That visit also included him doing some practice laps with Verizon IndyCar Series Pace Car driver and retired racer Sarah Fisher.
“I was like a kid at Christmas doing laps on the oval in a Corvette ZR1,” he said. “Sarah took me around. Then I spent a few hours working with Victor.”
Fellows, a co-owner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport) in Bowmanville, Ontario, has provided instruction to several of today’s NASCAR stars, including Kyle Larson, Ty and Austin Dillon and John Hunter Nemechek.
He laughed about the assertion that Fellows is one of the best racers to never make an Indy 500 start.
“I’ll take that,” he said. “That’s very nice. I don’t know if that’s the case. I’m sure there are lots of guys who are really talented and never got the chance. It is what it is.
“Indy is one of those special, special places. I started following it when I was a kid in the late ‘60s. One of the first car races I saw on television was the Trenton 200. And growing up in the Toronto area, my very first car race that I went to was the Formula One race at our place (Mosport) in ’69.
“I grew up following Formula Atlantic in Canada with (Jacques) Villeneuve, (Nico) Rosberg, (Danny) Sullivan, Howdy Holmes, Bobby Rahal, Bill Brack and Craig Hill. Trans Am was always a big show at what was then Mosport and is now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”
Fellows looks back on his path and has a simple explanation for why that winding road never ended up at Indy.
“I basically went broke trying to race a Formula 1600 in the early ‘80s,” he said. “Then I spent close to 10 years sort of paying off the debt.”
Better late than never, Fellows grins again when asked what, if nothing else, will he experience Saturday?
“Fun,” he said. “It’s a really fun road course. This is Indy, man. Just being here and putting on a helmet is special.”
Visit IMS.com to buy tickets, see the complete weekend schedule and for more information about the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational. All kids 15 and under are admitted free Saturday or Sunday when accompanied by an adult ticket holder.