Memorable win for Fellows dates to Nemechek's offer

The memories of Gilles Villeneuve are shockingly vivid and in no way resemble the grainy, black-and-white film clips played in the entree to last Saturday's Nationwide Series race held on the circuit that bears his name.

He was a man of startling color -- not just Ferrari red -- but a vast palette of every shade imaginable.

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Nearly 30 years ago -- God, how can it be that long -- surrounded by friends and foes alike in the old Formula One pit lane, adjacent to the current hairpin at the far limits of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, he reveled in the adulation of his vast home country fan base and the respect of his peers.

How odd the sparkling confidence of this fiery motorsports legend would be captured in a 35mm black-and-white image whose very antiquated technology sadly makes you realize how long Villeneuve the man, the doting husband, the loving father, has been gone.

But it's sadly true.

Despite the disparity in their methods of attacking a racetrack, I betcha he would've loved Ron Fellows, his fellow Canadian who held the estimable Villeneuve up as an icon even after his untimely death in qualifying at Zolder for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

Fellows' commitment to family, especially throughout his NASCAR involvement, has been obvious -- as was Villeneuve's, especially earlier in his career.

So it was especially fitting that Fellows, who's made a measured, calculating style more his trademark, unlike Villeneuve's almost super-human speed and daring, would win as the shadows of his career lengthen, in his home country and on this special track -- on a day when NASCAR made history by racing on rain tires, another Fellows forte.

There was a time when Fellows was the ultimate crossover hero to sports-car guys who craved a career taste in NASCAR. From 1997 to 2001, any other road racer could only dream about accomplishing what Fellows did, in all three NASCAR national tours.

He won three consecutive poles in Craftsman Truck Series races at Watkins Glen, and won the 1997 and 1999 races. Between 1998 and 2001, he won three of four Busch Series races at The Glen. (Continued)