LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Ryan Fellows hadn't been a regular on the Street Outlaws television show, but his wife Elizabeth said it was his dream to be on the show side-by-side with other adrenaline junkies pushing the pedal to the metal.
Ryan was killed in a fiery crash north of Las Vegas Monday while filming an episode of the show on US 93.
"I got the call as the accident was happening," Elizabeth said.
She said the call from one of Ryan's racing friends had woken her and rang as some kind of cruel prank at first.
"Just thought it was this horrible joke," she said. "I don't know why. I wanted to yell at someone to stop playing games, and I just broke down."
Elizabeth said nearby racers tried to do what they could to get Ryan free from the burning wreckage but couldn't.
"All his friends ran to him," she said, "but I heard it was too hot to touch, so they were screaming for him and, yeah, they couldn't do anything."
Elizabeth says, over the course of nearly 20 years of marriage, Ryan was loving, caring, passionate, and headstrong.
She said he was driven to succeed at everything he did and would leave that legacy behind for their two kids.
"He would just tell them, you've got to work hard your whole life," she said. "You've got to work and never give up. Work for your dreams."
Elizabeth said she wasn't yet at the point where she could consider what caused the crash, but did hope to one day have answers.
OSHA investigators are looking into the crash.
