You can tell a lot from a racing driver’s favourite track. Boris Said’s pick isn’t for the faint of heart: The historic and challenging 15.769-mile Nordschleife, or Northern Loop, at Western Germany’s Nürburgring circuit in the Eifel Mountains.
“The old course at the Nürburgring is my ultimate track to race on. It will always be one of my favourites,” he said.
“In North America, having grown up in Connecticut and being born in New York, Watkins Glen just always seemed like my home track and the people have kind of adopted me there. And it’s kind of like going back in time: it’s a small town, really good restaurants, family-owned everything, people are really friendly and it’s just a really great atmosphere.”
The road racing specialist remains the only American to win the Nürburgring 24 Hours on the Nordschleife, taking the chequered flag in the 2005 with team-mates Pedro Lamy, Duncan Huisman, and Andy Priaulx.
He also gets around The Glen quite well, taking four top-10 finishes in 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide starts there over the years.
And that’s why Said’s number is on speed dial for any NASCAR looking for a good road course result in New York. This time he answered Red Bull’s call and on August 8 he will drive the No. 83 Toyota in Watkins Glen where he started his maiden NASCAR road course race almost two decades ago.
That year, he subbed for an ailing Jimmy Spencer in the Busch Series, now known as Nationwide and promptly took pole for the 1998 race.
'When you show the NASCAR regulars what you need to do, it’s like showing a duck water and they get pretty good at it. They are, in my opinion, the best in the business' – Boris Said
An engine failure ruined his day, but the die was cast. “Ever since then, people started hiring me to drive their cars when somebody got hurt or they needed help and that sort of spring boarded into teaching guys how to road race. I have taught more than 30 NASCAR drivers now,” said the 47-year-old who visited the Red Bull headquarters earlier this month for a seat fitting.
“For some reason, I understood what you need out of the cars and it just worked for me. Some guys make it work and some don’t for whatever reason.”
Unfortunately for racers like Said, who swoop in for selected events, the NASCAR regulars have greatly improved their road racing skills over the years, thanks in part to the ringers who force them to step up their game on the series’ two non-oval tracks, California’s Infineon Raceway and The Glen.
But don’t think that ovals are easy in comparison. “People always ask me about road racing and oval racing and what’s harder and I always answer by asking: “What’s harder to be the best baseball player or the best football player?’ It’s not that it’s harder, it’s a different set of skills,” he said.
“When you show the NASCAR regulars what you need to do, it’s like showing a duck water and they get pretty good at it. They are, in my opinion, the best in the business.”
One driver who Said thought did a great job on his NASCAR debut was DTM star Mattias Ekström, who drove the No. 83 in Sonoma, Calif., earlier this season. The Swede finished a respectable 21st after being spun out of a top-10 spot late in the race by NASCAR’s resident bad boy, Brad Keselowski.
“I was leading the race and Brad Keselowski got me too, so he was hitting everybody — Mattias was in the wrong place at the wrong time with a driver who was being overly aggressive that day,” Said offered.
“I had a preconceived notion of what I thought Mattias Ekström would be like but I was 180-degrees off. He fit right in, he’s a really cool guy, and really open. I got along with him well. To me, he seemed like he was from Southern California.”
While he makes his living on road courses, Said’s need for speed isn’t limited to asphalt. In fact, if it’s twisty and fast — and even ice covered, he’s willing to give it a go. Admittedly, he hasn’t conquered the Red Bull Crashed Ice course in Quebec City, but he certainly might be in the running of he ever gives it a shot.
You see, his father, Bob Said, while an accomplished racing driver, turned to the bobsled later in his career and represented the U.S. twice in the Winter Olympics. (Grenoble, 1968, and Sapporo, 1972).
So, when Geoff Bodine, the eldest of the three NASCAR racing brothers, put together a celebrity bobsled event a few years ago at the Olympic track at Mount Van Hoevenberg, Said dominated before finally being knocked from his perch by young upstart Joey Logano.
“I won the first five out of six of them and right off the bat I was really good at bobsledding, so that got me thinking maybe it is in your genes,” he said of he event that benefits the U.S. Olympic bobsled team.
“Maybe it’s just because I love road racing, but it is an unbelievable thrill.”
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