Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From NASCAR.com:
Conversation: Fellows
Road-racing ace on differences between NASCAR, sports-car racing
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
June 27, 2005
01:59 PM EDT (17:59 GMT)
Ron Fellows had the best finish of the road-course aces Sunday at Sonoma.
Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
SONOMA, Calif. -- Ron Fellows is tough to miss in the Nextel Cup garage. He's tall, thin as a rail, with a head full of black hair.
His talent on the road courses is also unusual. Even though he races in NASCAR just a few times a year -- twice in Nextel Cup, up to two times in the Busch Series -- he's been a threat to win.
Although he hasn't won yet, he keeps showing up to try, and it's hard to imagine that he won't get a win one of these years.
Fellows' best shot at victory will always be at Watkins Glen, which is just a stone's throw away from his home in Toronto. Fellows has finished second in The Glen twice and will be back for another try in August.
Fellows spoke to NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson on Saturday at Sonoma.
Q: What are your plans for The Glen in August?
Fellows: Currently, we are working towards doing The Glen with the Tide car. Hopefully I can learn a bunch on Sunday [at Sonoma] and apply it to The Glen.
Q: Are you going to run the Busch race?
Fellows: I'd like to. I don't have a ride yet. I have been so busy with the Corvette program and getting this organized with PPI and Tide, so it would be nice to do.
Q: How come no DEI deal this year on the road courses?
Fellows: Logistics prevented it. The 1 car when I ran in the past, was run predominantly by Kevin Manion's bunch, who are looking after Martin Truex, and they are in Milwaukee this weekend, so we looked at trying to do both, and it just wasn't going to work out, so that's the reason for that.
Today is Saturday, and this may change on Sunday, but how come a road-course ace hasn't been to win in the last 30 years in the Cup series?
Probably hasn't been the same kind of effort put forward like there has been the last 10 [years], we've had some road racers coming in now, but certainly, we have come pretty close, but these guys are great drivers. And the competition is very deep.
Guys like Gordon and Stewart and Mark Martin and Rusty (Wallace), Ricky Rudd, and the new guys, Jimmie Johnson are doing a great job. They are all extremely talented race drivers who have put a lot of effort into being sharp at the road races.
The competition warrants it. They can't take a weekend off. That is why it is very difficult to do for a part-time guy. We'll never stop trying, and we've come close, but it's not getting easier.
Q: When you climb into these cars on Friday morning in these races, how long does it take you to get comfortable?
Fellows: It usually takes me six or seven laps to kind of get acclimatized. It's so different than our Corvette. Our Corvette is probably 1,000 pounds lighter and has twice as much downforce and uses a much wider Michelin race tire on an 18-wheel wheel.
We have carbon brakes, like they use in Formula One. It's a six-speed sequential transmission, so you can be very aggressive with that car, braking and cornering. The Cup car takes a lot more finesse.
It slips and slides and it can get away from you if you are too aggressive. The first thing I have to remind myself - when I get into the Cup car out of the Corvette - is the brakes for sure, that is the biggest thing.
This doesn't stop like a Corvette. Although, the Cup cars have unreal power. They just have tremendous power. They accelerate very hard, which is fun.
Q: We race on road courses in June and August. When do you start thinking about the races?
Fellows: I think of them all the time. I would have liked to have this deal done a little sooner so we could be better prepared, but it is what it is and we'll try to sort though it.
Q: As a Canadian, where do you hope NASCAR goes in the future? Do you hope they build a new track or go to an existing track, or even go to a street course?
The history, our history in Canada, we are more focused on road racing, it's more of a road racing culture, between the Mosports and the Grand Prix in Montreal, the Molson Indy track, I would love to see [NASCAR] do more road races -- selfishly -- but we have plenty of tracks, certainly in eastern Canada, that can handle NASCAR.
We have had Formula One and Champ cars for I guess, 40 years. They are no strangers to big-time racing. Hopefully NASCAR can look at the success of the Busch race in Mexico, which we were there for and was just a great event to be at.
A race at any event in Canada will be just as good, if not better.
Q: Can they run stock cars on the streets?
You certainly could. A track like Mosport is more like a Watkins Glen and these cars are very suited for a track like Watkins Glen.
Could they run on a street course? Sure. I think it would be a better show on a more wide-open track but it would be awesome.
If it happened on the Molson Indy course, the place you want to be on the first lap in terms of watching is Turn 3.
Conversation: Fellows
Road-racing ace on differences between NASCAR, sports-car racing
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
June 27, 2005
01:59 PM EDT (17:59 GMT)
Ron Fellows had the best finish of the road-course aces Sunday at Sonoma.
Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
SONOMA, Calif. -- Ron Fellows is tough to miss in the Nextel Cup garage. He's tall, thin as a rail, with a head full of black hair.
His talent on the road courses is also unusual. Even though he races in NASCAR just a few times a year -- twice in Nextel Cup, up to two times in the Busch Series -- he's been a threat to win.
Although he hasn't won yet, he keeps showing up to try, and it's hard to imagine that he won't get a win one of these years.
Fellows' best shot at victory will always be at Watkins Glen, which is just a stone's throw away from his home in Toronto. Fellows has finished second in The Glen twice and will be back for another try in August.
Fellows spoke to NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson on Saturday at Sonoma.
Q: What are your plans for The Glen in August?
Fellows: Currently, we are working towards doing The Glen with the Tide car. Hopefully I can learn a bunch on Sunday [at Sonoma] and apply it to The Glen.
Q: Are you going to run the Busch race?
Fellows: I'd like to. I don't have a ride yet. I have been so busy with the Corvette program and getting this organized with PPI and Tide, so it would be nice to do.
Q: How come no DEI deal this year on the road courses?
Fellows: Logistics prevented it. The 1 car when I ran in the past, was run predominantly by Kevin Manion's bunch, who are looking after Martin Truex, and they are in Milwaukee this weekend, so we looked at trying to do both, and it just wasn't going to work out, so that's the reason for that.
Today is Saturday, and this may change on Sunday, but how come a road-course ace hasn't been to win in the last 30 years in the Cup series?
Probably hasn't been the same kind of effort put forward like there has been the last 10 [years], we've had some road racers coming in now, but certainly, we have come pretty close, but these guys are great drivers. And the competition is very deep.
Guys like Gordon and Stewart and Mark Martin and Rusty (Wallace), Ricky Rudd, and the new guys, Jimmie Johnson are doing a great job. They are all extremely talented race drivers who have put a lot of effort into being sharp at the road races.
The competition warrants it. They can't take a weekend off. That is why it is very difficult to do for a part-time guy. We'll never stop trying, and we've come close, but it's not getting easier.
Q: When you climb into these cars on Friday morning in these races, how long does it take you to get comfortable?
Fellows: It usually takes me six or seven laps to kind of get acclimatized. It's so different than our Corvette. Our Corvette is probably 1,000 pounds lighter and has twice as much downforce and uses a much wider Michelin race tire on an 18-wheel wheel.
We have carbon brakes, like they use in Formula One. It's a six-speed sequential transmission, so you can be very aggressive with that car, braking and cornering. The Cup car takes a lot more finesse.
It slips and slides and it can get away from you if you are too aggressive. The first thing I have to remind myself - when I get into the Cup car out of the Corvette - is the brakes for sure, that is the biggest thing.
This doesn't stop like a Corvette. Although, the Cup cars have unreal power. They just have tremendous power. They accelerate very hard, which is fun.
Q: We race on road courses in June and August. When do you start thinking about the races?
Fellows: I think of them all the time. I would have liked to have this deal done a little sooner so we could be better prepared, but it is what it is and we'll try to sort though it.
Q: As a Canadian, where do you hope NASCAR goes in the future? Do you hope they build a new track or go to an existing track, or even go to a street course?
The history, our history in Canada, we are more focused on road racing, it's more of a road racing culture, between the Mosports and the Grand Prix in Montreal, the Molson Indy track, I would love to see [NASCAR] do more road races -- selfishly -- but we have plenty of tracks, certainly in eastern Canada, that can handle NASCAR.
We have had Formula One and Champ cars for I guess, 40 years. They are no strangers to big-time racing. Hopefully NASCAR can look at the success of the Busch race in Mexico, which we were there for and was just a great event to be at.
A race at any event in Canada will be just as good, if not better.
Q: Can they run stock cars on the streets?
You certainly could. A track like Mosport is more like a Watkins Glen and these cars are very suited for a track like Watkins Glen.
Could they run on a street course? Sure. I think it would be a better show on a more wide-open track but it would be awesome.
If it happened on the Molson Indy course, the place you want to be on the first lap in terms of watching is Turn 3.
