Fellows and DEI UPDATE: DEI will announce today it has hired Toronto’s Ron Fellows to race at Sonoma and Watkins Glen next season. Dale Earnhardt Inc. will form a fourth Winston Cup team to accommodate Fellows — who has a total of five BGN and CTS victories driving for a team owned by Joe Nemechek. Fellows will continue to race the No. 3 factory Corvette C5-R in the American Le Mans Series, where he won the GTS championship this season. “DEI will have a fourth team at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen for the 2003 season and Ron Fellows will be our driver,” DEI spokesman Steve Crisp said. Fellows will also play a major role in upgrading DEI’s road course racing program, acting as a coach for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip and Steve Park. “Thrilled is the best word to describe how I feel,” Fellows said yesterday from Sebring, Fla., where he was testing the 2003 Corvette. “Being with one of the best Winston Cup teams in the business is a big shot in the arm for me.” Sponsorship and details on team personnel with the DEI effort are still being worked out. Fellows will begin working soon with DEI chassis and motor builders to prepare the team for 2003. Crisp said DEI has been pursuing Fellows since team founder Dale Earnhardt worked with him leading up to the 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race in 2001.(Toronto Sun)(11-12-2002) UPDATE: Veteran road racer and 2002 ALMS GTS Series Champion Ron Fellows will compete in both the Sears Point and Watkins Glen NASCAR Winston Cup road races in 2003 at the wheel of Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolets. Fellows, 43, of Toronto, Ontario, Canadawill also perform testing and road race coaching duties at DEI for the upcoming season. After coaching DEI driver Michael Waltrip in 2002, Waltrip went on to qualify on the outside pole for the Watkins Glen event, finishing 9th. DEI and Fellows first formed a relationship in preparation for the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona, where the late Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. competed as teammates of Fellows in the GTS Corvettes fielded by Chevrolet. The two Corvettes swept the GTS class, claiming first and second place. Fellows is no stranger to driving the heavier, albeit more powerful, NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National cars posting several successful finishes in both series’ road races. In five NASCAR Winston Cup starts, Fellows has posted a top-five, a top-ten and an outside pole. In four BGN starts, Fellows has claimed three victories and two poles. “I am excited beyond belief,” Fellows stated. .”This is something we’ve talked about doing for a long time. It’s a dream come true for me to drive a Dale Earnhardt Incorporated car. It’s a goal of mine to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race and this moves me one step closer to doing the that.”(DEI PR)(11-14-2002)
