Boris Said

Boris Said
Awards	1997 & 1998 24 Hours of Daytona winner 1998 12 Hours of Sebring winner 2005 24 Hours Nürburgring winner
NASCAR Cup Series career
Car no., team	26 – Latitude 43 Motorsports
2009 position	57th
Best finish	42nd – 2005
First race	1999 Frontier @ The Glen (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 7 2
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
2009 position	78th
Best finish	58th – 2006
First race	1998 Lysol 200 (Watkins Glen)
First win	2010 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Last win	2010 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 7 2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
Best finish	16th – 1997
First race	1995 Subway 100 (Sonoma)
First win	1998 Kragen/Exide 151 (Sonoma)
Last win	1998 Kragen/Exide 151 (Sonoma)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 9 3

Boris Said (born September 18, 1962) is an American race car driver from Carlsbad, California but considers his hometown to be Stamford, Connecticut. His father, Bob Said, was a Formula One race driver and US Olympic bobsled driver in 1968 and 1972. He drove the #26 Ford Fusion for Latitude 43 Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is now making the move to full-time NASCAR competition alongside crew chief Frank Stoddard. His NASCAR career began in 1995 as a "Road course ringer" primarily due to his extensive road-racing experience.

Racing career

Said competes in a Trans-Am Series race in 2005 at Long Beach

Said's early interest was in motorcycle racing. In 1985 while attending the Detroit Grand Prix as a spectator he met SCCA Champion, Bob Sharp.

He began racing with the SCCA in 1987. Boris was named SCCA rookie of the year in 1988. In 1991 he began driving for Baer Racing, later to become Baer Brake Systems. Upon Baer's withdrawal from the series to focus on the manufacture of brakes in 1992, Boris got another big ride driving in the IMSA series in 1993 driving a BMW M3. He won the 1997 and 1998 24 Hours of Daytona and 1998 12 Hours of Sebring in IMSA. He also became the first American to win the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2005 driving a BMW Motorsport-entered BMW M3 GTR with co-drivers Pedro Lamy, Duncan Huisman and Andy Priaulx.

Boris was also invited as an "At-Large" Rally Car Racing entry for the ESPN X Games 13 at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles CA, on Sunday August 5, 2007. Boris was be joined by American rally car racing legend John Buffum, as his co-driver.

NASCAR career

Said made his NASCAR debut in 1995 in the Craftsman Truck Series at Sears Point International Raceway, driving the #4 Ford F-150 for Irvan-Simo Racing. He started 25th but finished 24th out of a 26-truck field due to overheating problems. He made three starts the following year driving Irvan's #28 1-800-Collect Ford, his best finish a thirteenth at I-70 Speedway.

Said moved up to trucks full-time in 1997 in the #44 Federated Auto Parts Ford. While his amateur season did not yield any wins, he finished second at the Pronto Auto Parts 400K and finished sixteenth in the final standings. The following year, he won his first career truck series race at Sears Point, in addition to his first truck pole at Heartland Park Topeka. He also made his Busch Series debut at Watkins Glen International Raceway, starting on the pole but finishing 40th in the #12 Zippo Chevy owned by Jimmy Spencer.

In 1999, Said scaled back on his Truck Series schedule, running only six events. He won poles at Portland and Topeka for Irvan-Simo, as well as driving for Team Racing and Bobby Rahal. He made his Winston Cup debut at Watkins Glen, qualifying on the outside pole and leading nine laps before his #14 Ford suffered engine problems. He also drove at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing 34th.

In 2000, he made what would be his final Truck series start for five years at Portland, finishing fifteenth. After a 30th place run at California Speedway, he returned to Cup, driving the #23 for Jimmy Spencer, and finished 42nd at Sears Point. He also attempted the Cup race at Watkins Glen, but failed to qualify due to a lack of owner's points. He saw limited action in 2001, finishing fourth in a Busch Series race at Watkins Glen in a Robbie Reiser-owned car, and drove a pair of races for Jasper Motorsports, finishing eighth at the Glen. After running with Jasper again in 2002, Said served as a fill-in driver for Jerry Nadeau at MB2/MBV Motorsports. He won the pole and finished sixth at Sears Point.

Said signed onto drive a limited schedule for the team in 2004, running the #36 Centrix Financial Chevrolet, and finished sixth once again at Sears Point. The team expanded to run more races for 2005, where his best finish in nine starts was a third at Watkins Glen. During that season, he returned to the Truck series finishing 35th at Kentucky Speedway while filling for an injured Rick Crawford. He also ran two races in the Busch Series for Phoenix Racing, and had a fifth-place finish at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

2008 Cup car at Daytona

Said joined Evernham Motorsports to help the team's road course program in 2006. He won the pole at Mexico City, and finished second, as well as driving the #4 Geico Dodge Charger for Biagi-DenBeste Racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway, starting 40th and finished 31st. In May 2006, Said and his crew chief Frank Stoddard and Mark Simo announced the creation No Fear Racing, which will use equipment from Roush Fenway Racing. The team's slogan is "Sell more cases, run more races." They ran four Cup races starting with the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. He won the pole at the Pepsi 400, his first Nextel Cup pole on an oval. Following his pole win, he promised a pit reporter that if he won the race or the race at Watkins Glen International, that he would shave his head. He was leading the race with three laps to go, and finished fourth, his highest career NASCAR finish on an oval track. In a post-race interview Boris said his performance in the Pepsi 400 was "the highlight of my career". Boris qualified and ran in the 2007 Daytona 500. Although he was not in the top 35 teams from the 2006 owner's points, Said posted the fastest qualifying time among non-locked teams and the 6th fastest qualifying time overall. Starting in 23rd position, Boris dropped back to last place near the beginning of the race. However, he managed to avoid the massive carnage at the finish and cross the line at 14th place.

Said failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. However, he successfully qualified for the 2009 event at Infineon. Later that year he drove the #08 US Chrome Ford Fusion for Carter-Simo Racing at Watkins Glen.

It has been announced that Said will drive the #26 for Latitude 43 Motorsports in 2010. He ran the first four races and Infineon. The cars are former Roush Fenway Racing Fords and the team, which finished 22nd in 2009 and was sold to satisfy NASCAR's four cars per team rule, had exemptions for the first five races of 2010. By August 2010, Said stated that he did not expect to be back with Latitude 43. Said received a one-race deal from Red Bull Racing at Watkins Glen.

On August 29, 2010, Boris Said won his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.

American le Mans Series Career : 2000

Said competed for the PTG Racing Group in the 2000 season driving a BMW M3 in the GT Category, and managed to win the Laguna Seca Round.

The PTG Team finished 3rd overall in the GT Category that year.

V8 Supercar Race

Said was entered into round 9 the Australian V8 Supercar Series, the L&H 500 at Phillip Island, Victoria, that took place on the weekend of 12–14 September 2008. He drove the #67 Supercheap Auto with Matt Neal. They finished the race in 19th.

This deal also includes racing at the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst, New South Wales. This took place from the 9th to the 12th of October, 2008 and is by far the largest event on the Australian touring car calendar. Said failed to finish the race after his teammate Matt Neal crashed the car.

External links

• Boris Said's statistics at racing-reference.info

Said owns a 1956 Ford F-100