This is where you turn: and brake. And accelerate. And shift. Road course specialist Ron Fellows leads you around the very unconventional layout at Watkins Glen in preparation for Sunday's race

Sporting News, The, August 11, 2003 by Lee Spencer

Ron Fellows is the King of the Road ... courses. If NASCAR is racing at Watkins Glen or Sonoma, you can bet that some savvy owner has him signed for the weekend. This year, it's Dale Earnhardt Inc. Fellows, a 43-year-old Canadian, tested last month at The Glen with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. Junior has been picking up pointers from Fellows since they were teammates in the 2001 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. "He's been very helpful," Earnhardt says. "There's nothing he has taught me in particular, but he adds a certain calmness to the package."

Let's go for a ride with Fellows around the Watkins Glen circuit:

A We go across the start-finish in third gear and then shift up to fourth. Brake for Turn 1, and then go down into second gear through the center of the corner. There's a bit of a curve at the exit of Turn 1, then up to third gear just before you go through the Esses (Turns 2, 3 and 4) and a little breathe off the throttle as you go down and uphill through the Esses. You go flat through the top, making sure that you're just to the edge of the curb, ready to brake off the curve and almost to the guardrail of the exit.

B You snatch fourth gear down the back straight about 180 miles an hour, then brake right before the inside of the 6 marker (600 feet from Tuna 5, the beginning of the right-left turn combination called the chicane) all the way down to second gear, and you get fairly aggressive with the curbing through the bus stops (turns in the chicane) and then brake around through the exit.

C You're going to brake for Turn 10 just as the pavement changes (from asphalt to concrete at the start of the corner) and then downshift to second gear from fourth. There's a little bit of curve at the entrance but no curve at the exit of 10.

D For the last turn, you come back to driver's left--and leave a little bit of margin on your left--drive in hard right across to the curb and accelerate up through the turn. You'll use a little bit of curb at the exit again, up to third gear and across the start-finish.

E Give me a brake Fellows says the most aggressive braking occurs at the chicane, which he gives a 5 on a 1-to-5 scale. Turn 1 is a 4, and Turn 10 a 2.

"Turn 1 and going in (Turn 5) and out of the chicane (Turn 8) are the most precarious," he says. "It gets single file in a hurry. People seem to get into trouble there."

F Turn 9, you keep accelerating, get in early and basically just hold the curb all the way around. It's pretty fast from second gear into third right into the exit and then up to fourth approaching Turn 10.

F Where Fellows makes his moves

Traditionally, the best place to pass is going into the chicane. Usually you can get a run on somebody going up through the Esses, and that seems to be a pretty good place to do it. Occasionally, Turn 1; that's really about it. Sometimes guys will make a little mistake, and you can get a little run on them.

Turn 1 is the place where most drivers will lose time on the track because it's a downhill brake zone, and the car gets very light. You find a lot of guys, and I've done it too, will get the back wheels real light. It will lock up, and you'll spin out into the gravel. Been there, done that.

The whole approach to cornering on a road course seems to give some drivers problems. It takes a while to get used to driving into a 90-degree corner and knowing when to brake while down-shifting so you don't lock up the back tires and go wheel-hopping.

TURN RADIUS in feet to center line

OVERALL TRACK LENGHT short course=2.45 miles

C THE STANDS

TRACK WIDTH varies from 36' to 48' Average = 38'

D LENGTH OF TRACK in feet

BANKING 6 degree banking at all turns except turn 9 which is 10 degrees

Hired guns have ammo: six drivers known for their road course expertise will attempt to qualify this weekend at Watkins Glen

No. 1, Ron Fellows, 43 years old. The only non-American to win a Busch Series race, Fellows has three victories and two poles in Busch and two victories and three poles in the Craftsman Truck Series. Fellows' career-high Winston Cup finish was second in 1999 at The Glen. He qualified third in June at Sonoma and had a shot at the win before a miscue in the pits. Dale Earnhardt Inc. opted for Fellows to drive at Watkins Glen over regular driver Jeff Green in an effort to boost the car's owners points.

No. 01, Boris Said, 40. Said, who won the 1998 Craftsman Truck Series race at Sonoma, upset the Winston Cup regulars in June by stealing the pole position there, and he finished a career-high sixth. Said enjoys The Glen, where he finished eighth in 2001 and started second in 1999 in his series debut. Like Fellows, Said figures to give the 01's owner, MB2 Motorsports, more owners points.

No. 4, Johnny Miller, 37. "Johnny Lightning" led the Trans Am Sedes points earlier this season when he made his Winston Cup debut with Morgan-McClure Motorsports at Sonoma. Miller started 36th and finished 24th, on the lead lap. Miller lives a short distance from the Morgan-McClure shop, which is in Abingdon, Va.; after bugging owner Larry McClure for a shot in a stock car, he finally got it this year because the team lacks a full-time driver.