Arab Americans

Boris Said

Boris Said III^[1] (born September 18, 1962) is an American race car driver from Carlsbad, California but considers his hometown to be Stamford, Connecticut and was born in New York City. His father, Bob Said, was a Formula One race driver and US Olympic bobsled driver in 1968 and 1972. His NASCAR career began in 1995 as a “road course ringer” primarily due to his extensive road-racing experience.

Racing career

Early career

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. Said 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, Said 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.

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. Said received notice from fans and drivers for fame, when he got contact with championship contender Rich Bickle at the 1997 October Sonoma truck race. Bickle had blamed Boris for causing him to lose a top five running, and made contact that cut down Boris’s tire. In reply an angry Boris Said waited for Bickle to come back around and retaliated. Both drivers apologized the next day. Said was fined $15,000 and was suspended until he paid the fine.

The following year, he won his first career truck series race at the same 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 atHomestead-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 for the Sears Point race in California. He stayed in the top ten all race long. With pit strategies it seemed like the win would come down to Said and fellow road ace Ron Fellows. However Said and Fellows forgot to pit when they were told to before an untimely caution came out. Because they didn’t pit before the caution with 38 laps to go, Said and Fellows lost their shot at the win. Said restarted 26th and recovered for 6th place.

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 in Mexico City.

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 chiefFrank 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, in one of the biggest upsets in Daytona history. Following his pole win, he promised a pit reporter that if he either won the race, the race atWatkins Glen International or a NNS race within 3 years, that he would shave his head, come to the channel the next week and show everybody. He was leading the race with three laps to go and was passed by his friend Tony Stewart; after 2 more laps he finished fourth, his highest career NASCAR finish on an oval track. In a post-race interview Boris emotionally 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 and had no hope of regaining enough speed to finish well. However, he got lucky on a good finish when he managed to avoid the massive crash at the finish and cross the line at 14th place behind winner Kevin Harvick.

Said failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500 but had a nice NNS series. 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. Following an incident with Marcos Ambrose at Mexico City that wrecked his car, Said angrily wagged his finger at Ambrose when he passed by to lap him down. When interviewed Said said “I’d rather beat his ass” and after apologizing for his involvement he promised payback by saying “It is going to cost him a car” but his payback never took place.

Said had a rough 2009 season also but received support for 2010.

It had been announced that Said will drive the #26 for Latitude 43 Motorsports in 2010. He also announced a one year deal to drive the #09 Zaxby’s Chicken NNS Chevy for Robby Benton Motorsports. He ran the first four races and Infineon. His crew chief, Frank Stoddard was livid with Tony Stewart for contact on the final lap of the Infineon race and confronted him in the garage, but Said did not want part in it and apologized for his team’s behavior the next day. The cars used 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 to replace ill driver Brian Vickers and had a good run. In the ending laps he made contact with his Stewart that took him out of contention to win. When interviewed Said said he was not furious and when he said he would not hold a grudge against Stewart due to their friendship.

Meanwhile Said had a nice NNS season. On August 29, 2010, Said led the rest of the race after Robby Gordon ran out of gas with 3 to go, and won his long time desired first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. His close friend who he has raced with in F1 and NNS before, Italian driver Max Papis, passed him in the final turn to try to win, but a mistake by jumping over the curb too high cost him the win. Boris passed Papis after the mistake and they drag raced to the finish. By the time they reached the line Said was a bumper ahead of Papis (The finish resembled the 2009 Montreal finish where Australian driver Marcos Ambrose dominated, but made the same mistake Papis made, handing the win to Carl Edwards). Said publicly shaved his curly hair and received applause when he received TV attention for his victory.

Said drove for Phoenix Racing at the Sprint Cup Series road course events in 2011. Following an incident with Greg Biffle, after Said accidentally turned David Ragan (Biffle’s teammate) into David Reutimann at the Glen in 2011, causing Reutimann to flip violently, at the garage Biffle punched Said in his car and apparently gestured at Said. Said climbed out and Biffle hid behind his pit crew and while exchanging words Said was prevented by Biffle’s pit members from attacking Biffle. After the race Said apologized for wrecking Ragan but angrily retorted;

“I’m more upset with Greg Biffle, he is the most unprofessional little scaredy cat I’ve ever seen in my life, he won’t even fight me like a man. So if someone texts me his address, I’ll go see him Wednesday at his house and show him what he really needs. He needs a friggin’ whooping, and I’m going to give it to him. He was flipping me off, giving the finger, totally unprofessional. Two laps down, I mean, he’s a chump.”… “I went over there to go talk to him and he wouldn’t even let me get out of the car and he comes over and throws a few little baby punches, and when I get out, he runs away and hides behind some big guys. But he won’t hide from me long, I’ll find him. I won’t settle it out on the track – it’s not right to wreck cars – but he’ll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days. I’ll see him somewhere.”

The incident was investigated by NASCAR officials, but no penalties were given. In 2012, he teamed with FAS Lane Racing to contest the races at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

2012–present

Said ran the road courses in 2012, and ran again as a road course ringer for FAS Lane Racing. Said continued to run for the team, now renamed Go FAS Racing, in 2014.

In early March 2015 Boris Said was announced to be picked to drive the #54 Monster Energy drink car for Joe Gibbs Racing substituting for an injured Kyle Busch. Said would race at Talladega, both Iowa races, Chicagoland, Mid-Ohio, Road America and Kentucky.

American Le Mans Series

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.

Said was listed as a driver on the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans LM GTE Am class entry of Robertson Racing.

V8 Supercars

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.

He returned to the category to drive alongside Steve Owen in the 2011 Armor All Gold Coast 600 with Paul Morris Motorsport. They finished in 18th on the Saturday race and finished in 7th on the Sunday race.

X Games

Said has competed in the X Games twice. He was invited as an “At-Large” RallyCar entry for the X Games XIII at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, on Sunday August 5, 2007. Said was joined by American rally car racing legend John Buffum as his co-driver.

Said returned to the X Games at Austin in 2015, competing in the Speed Energy Formula Off-Road category.