STREET RACER WHO DIED REMEMBERED AS A CARING FATHER
Ryan Fellows, 41, killed Sunday in crash racing for Discovery Channel show
Shortly before he raced his burnt orange Nissan 240Z on a closedoff Nevada street late Saturday night, Ryan Fellows texted his wife, thanking her for letting him pursue his lifelong passion of street racing.
“I love you and thank you for letting me live my dream.”
That was the last contact they had.
That text has given Liz Fellows some measure of comfort in the days since her husband died early Sunday in a fiery crash after apparently losing control of his speeding car.
He was racing in the desert about 25 miles north of Las Vegas, while being filmed for the Discovery Channel show “Street Outlaws: Fastest in America.” He appeared on several episodes of the show in the past two years, although he wasn’t a regular, his wife said.
The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the crash. Production teams for the Discovery Channel had permits to film in the desert, and law enforcement officers were in the area at the time of the crash, officials told the Los Angeles Times.
“There was an an ambulance, there was a lot of safety there,” his wife said.
The 41-year-old Chula Vista resident was the father of two. He is being remembered as a supportive father and coach who threw himself into his children’s interests.
When his son, Josiah, now 18, grew interested in BMX racing, he bought him a ramp, took him around to local tracks and worked with him on technique. When the boy began to play basketball — a sport Fellows had played at San Diego Christian College — he and his wife formed a club team program, the San Diego Warriors, and Fellows coached.
“My husband, when he does something, he goes 100 percent.” She said Ryan and Josiah would
each take about 1,000 shots a day. “My husband would be out there training him; it was like a job.”
Fellows also was close with his 10-year-old daughter, Olivia — “he would stop everything for her” — and she loved watching her dad race. “She always wanted him to win money so she could hold it in the picture,” Liz said.
Fellows was an entrepreneur who started several businesses over the years. His marketing skill helped fuel interest in his driving and attract large crowds, his wife said. His Instagram account had more than 48,000 followers.
Brad Sparks, a friend since the two were teens, set up a GoFundMe account to assist the family. By Wednesday, the page had raised more than $20,000.
He said Fellows strove to win in business and racing alike, and was the type of person who liked helping others achieve their goals. “He taught his kids to work hard and overcome obstacles. That’s a huge deal,” Sparks said.
Liz Fellows said she had worried about the danger of street racing but supported her husband’s love of the sport, which began when he was a teenager growing up in Lakeside. He bought his first car at 14 and went on to buy and sell hundreds of them, including a bright green Lamborghini Huracán.
The couple married when they were 21. Fellows stopped racing when his son was born but had resumed about four years ago and would travel around the country to different events. She said he first appeared on the Street Outlaws show more than a year ago when he raced his Lamborghini.
About a year ago he was in a crash and suffered broken bones; he bought a car while recuperating in the hospital, she said. “He had been in a couple accidents so I was hoping he would stop, but that’s just not him. He doesn’t stop until he’s stopped, basically,” she said.
Liz said she’s been comforted going back and rereading the text he sent her. She’s taken a screenshot of it to ensure it can’t be accidentally deleted.
She said her husband died driving his favorite car and being with people from the show he admired, who were watching him race.
“He wouldn’t want it any other way,” she said.