RFM Front Page News

TORONTO, Canada (December 14, 2003) — Ron Fellows was one of the founding drivers of General Motors' Corvette Racing program. One of the most visible and popular of a very well known team, Ron is always easily spotted in the LMS paddock, often in conversation with fans. In 2002 he won seven of ten races in the American Le Mans series on the way to his first American racing championship in his long and illustrious career. His Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship series had its second successful year, ably covered by the Toronto Star. And just this week he has been named again to the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association Racing All-America team for 2003. Ron took some time out on a snowy Sunday afternoon in Toronto to meet with RFM Sports and give us his thoughts about 2003, his current situation, and some plans for 2004.

Kate Shaw: First of all, was there anything announced at the GM Party last night that you are at liberty to reveal to us? Lineups for 2004, for instance?

Ron Fellows: No, unfortunately not. I'm not sure when they're going to do that announcing, who's driving with whom. The only thing they've got confirmed, which was maybe a week ago, is that we'll be on Michelin tires. Nothing else. I'm missing out on a tire test, by the way, because of this damage here [his injured arm].

KS: How is that progressing, do they think you'll be okay by Sebring?

RF: I go back to Indianapolis on Thursday, for a progress report; it's still pretty sore, and it is what it is. We've got a solid ten weeks to get it rehabbed. The challenge for me is to get this thing fit for a test on February 1st. I had the surgery done on December 1st.

Margot Orenchuk: How did you do it?

RF: Rock wall climbing in my local gym. It was a freak thing, because that's not really dangerous. I was tethered. But I had dislocated this shoulder playing hockey 12 or 13 years ago, and unbeknownst to me there was some damage there. I was just reaching and pulling like you normally do and it just pulled right out. And the shock of pain when it happened, I kind of let go of the leverage that I had with my legs, and that just kind of yanked it even further.

MO: What did Corvette have to say about that?

RF: It was kind of an interesting phone call to make.

MO: Have you seen or driven the new C6 yet?

RF: I have seen it, but not driven it.

MO: What do you think of it?

RF: I like it. I think it'll make a fine racecar too by the end of the year.

MO: I was told there weren't many changes to it.

RF: There's enough changes. It's going to require a complete rebuild for our guys, the body shape and style is enough different where it's going to require wind tunnel time, to get it figured out what we can creatively do to make it better, downforce versus drag, for example. The plan is to build a C6 racecar.

KS: Is there any kind of racing that you haven't done that you'd like to do? Rallying, perhaps?

RF: I'd like to drive a CART car. And I'd sure like to drive a Formula One car once. A Champ Car I could fit into. A Formula One car I would not. Not a chance. Oliver Gavin, who's on our team, he tested a Benetton, and he's about an inch or an inch-and-a-half shorter than I am, and skinny as a rake. And lengthwise, he said he could do the testing okay, but he couldn't race it. His legs would go to sleep, because it was so cramped. Johnny Herbert would be an average sized F1 driver. But a Champ Car I'd fit in easily. I think it would be fun to try that once!

MO: If Tracy can get into one, you can. He's a big boy.

RF: Height is the biggest factor in single seaters. I started out driving in Formula Ford and a couple of Atlantics races, not very successfully. It's so much about size. Harvey Hughes, the former owner of Mosport, he was the one who kind of steered me toward sports car racing and the Trans Am series; if you get hooked up with a manufacturer, he said, you can make a living. Thank you, Harvey.

MO: How much of a physical toll did the heat, humidity and "The Bump" take out of you at Miami?

RF: It was hard but it wasn't bad. I've always enjoyed street races. The heat is always a factor; the bump was less of a factor. You just had to hit it just right. You couldn't go through it full speed. The challenge was trying not to break an axle on the way through it. Our teammates were unlucky in the warm-up and destroyed their car.

KS: Do you go on the IMSA forums at all? The IMSA people wanted to know. You have a lot of fans over there.

RF: I haven't in the past, but I will. I have trouble trying to keep up with e-mails and the website. I've done two radio shows today too. It's part of the business.

KS: I have a message from some French fans for you. They say "Please come back to Le Mans but bring Yellow Cars."

RF: Tell them to count on it!

MO: So you are going back?

RF: Far as I know. I don't think they have announced what we're going to do, but we're going on the assumption that we're going to do the full ALMS season and that includes Le Mans.

MO: Despite the fact that you are ALMS, Trans-Am and 24 Hours of Le Mans champion in class, and you have been asked to drive NASCAR road courses, apparently you have never been offered a full time NASCAR drive. Why do you think that is?

RF: Lack of oval experience, and age. My first real experience in the NASCAR community was in 1997. I was closing right in on 40. I wouldn't say that it was one of the things I think about. I hope I never regret not pursuing it, but I just didn't have the interest. It's a huge deal, and we've won truck races, Busch races, and I've come close to winning a Cup race, and that makes me happy. But if I could win a road race, that'd be huge, before I get too old and too slow.

MO: So it's not a dream that you have.

RF: No, not at this point. I think at some point there will be a Canadian in there, but not now. That's not to say that Paul Tracy couldn't do it, but the front engine car is very different to drive. He's been very successful, and I think it'd take him awhile to figure out how to drive those things, because they're different and difficult to drive. They're far more difficult to drive than the Corvette.

KS: What makes them more difficult?

RF: The weight of them -- they're 1,000 pounds heavier than our Corvette race cars. And probably 150 more horsepower. They have very narrow Goodyear tires, they only run a 15-inch wheel and that means you don't get much of a brake package to pack inside the wheel; there's not a whole lot of downforce. They don't stop very well; they don't turn very well, they don't corner particularly aggressively because of the lack of downforce and the narrow tire. So it's a big finesse exercise and they're tricky in a different way. You can't be too aggressive. I think that's why some of the older guys are still competitive. They have learned the finesse game and some of the younger guys haven't. And the cars don't beat up your body under G-loads the way single-seaters do. So they protect your career longevity in the Nextel Cup, as we have to call it now.

MO: Some people wonder why you never moved down to the States to live like a lot of the other race drivers do?

RF: We're Canadian. I live here because we choose to although we're we aren't crazy about the Canadian taxes. Certainly we have run down and looked at a few places. When I was pursuing the NASCAR thing a little bit more we'd have to move to the Charlotte area like everybody else. We shopped around to find the best location for us to live for travel ease, and the only comparable city to this that gets to the places I need to get to direct, nonstop, is Dallas. Air Canada goes everywhere we need to go, direct and nonstop. Almost better than anybody else on the continent, for me. This is, days like this Florida looks pretty good though! I must admit I don't like the cold -- I never have. But we are proud to be Canadian.

One of the things we're trying to do with the Sunoco Karting Series is to provide grassroots learning for future Canadian interest; and also to drive up a little more Corporate interest. With the withdrawal of Players, now there's zero opportunities. Most of the opportunities for me other than early days with Sunoco here, a guy named Jim O'Donnel who was very supportive in my early development getting into Trans-Am. The company that has had the most positive impact for me, helping to get into position to make a decent living was a company called AER in Texas. Developing companies and contacts like that up here, for Canadians, is a goal. And it's a bit frustrating. There are certainly some days when you think "How come Corporate Canada can't get off their ***es and see the light here?" Motorsports is an incredibly rewarding business, not just for the participants but for the sponsoring corporations. There is no other sport that comes close to motorsport in terms of reward for sponsor participation, based on the fact that in motorsports, corporate participation is an accepted part of the business, and it is encouraged and rewarded. It's unlike any other sport out there.

We're really stick and ball minded up here. But we can't lose sight of the fact that for whatever reason we have produced in this country a disproportionate number of good drivers. There's got to be a couple of reasons for that. We need to keep that trend moving. I think that what we're doing in the karting field is doing that now that Players has gone.

KS: Speaking as a parent, what did you think about the tobacco sponsorship? Did you think it was a bad thing -- that it encouraged children to smoke?

RF: Absolutely not. It never occurred to me to smoke! And I never did. I think they're preaching to those who do: "If you do smoke, then smoke Players." Is it good for you? No. You can struggle morally with it if a tobacco company supports your paycheque, but it's a choice. And it's a legal product. The government makes a bloody fortune from it and I don't see them banning it. They could never control that anyway. So I can't understand why they can't come to a happy medium in terms of the limited advertising that tobacco companies have been allowed to do in this country as it is now. They're not placing billboards next to high schools now. As long as it's a legal product, it should be allowed to advertise. Certainly Players has done a lot for Canadian motorsports. They didn't have necessarily a long-standing driver development program, but what they did do that was even more critical is that when they began to sponsor through the mid-90s top flight race teams, first with Barry Green and then with Forsythe, they insisted that the teams hire Canadian drivers. That's as positive a thing as any. One of the things we are trying to do with the Karting series is back up a couple of steps to get that grass roots foundation developed. So that once they're in a position to be going sports car racing opportunities, it's not as difficult. Until you get to where the costs are $1 million or higher. That's when it starts getting tough to find that kind of money. So we've got to have a grass roots system that develops not only drivers but also sponsors.

MO: Do you have a team that you sponsor?

RF: I have a series! Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championships, two years old. Ontario only. It's new. This has been our biggest year in the Toronto area. Toronto Star Wheels covered the series very extensively. That was a huge shot in the arms in terms of exposure.

KS: What question would you rather never hear again as long as you live?

RF: "What happened to your shoulder?" "What'd you do to yourself?"

KS: Did you ever think of playing pro hockey?

RF: Absolutely!

KS: Whom would you have played for if you'd had your druthers?

RF: I share season tickets for the Leafs, so that ought to answer that! But I have to admit that when I was between 10 and 13, my favourite team was the Bruins, though. Unfortunately I realised in my early teens that there was no hope of my making any money playing hockey. I can go a lot faster sitting down. I love hockey.

KS: You know about Corner 2 Racing, no doubt, being from Mosport.

RF: [big smile] Absolutely.

KS: And you've heard about our candlelight dinners that we hold during the ALMS thing. We decided because of the big sign they put up there that says, "Don't Make Me Call Security" that we'd try to spiff up our image a little. So we now have candlelight dinners on the Friday night. We'd love to have you join us for dinner.

RF: I'm crushed that I haven't been invited before! If you'd invite me I'd love to come!

KS: You 're on the list! So here's the final question, the mandatory ALMS question. Have you seen the photo of Peter Baron of Orbit Racing and a goat, on the Internet?

[Ron's look of astonishment, captured here, lasted until we explained that this was Peter Baron's answer to the "Never ask me this again" question, which then made him laugh.]

RF: I've once or twice wanted to give Peter the horn, but -- and you can ask him about the time when Ron had hold of the chinstrap of his helmet!

KS: We will. And we thank you very much for taking so much time with us today and wish you and Corvette the best of luck in 2004.

RFM Sports thanks Ed Moody of the Canadian Motorsport Archives, Murray Pontiac of Vancouver, and Ron Fellows, for their help with this interview.