From his SCCA debut season in 1987 to Daytona and Nurburgring wins, Said built a career across stock cars, sports cars and touring cars.
Boris Said is a US driver with a career spanning stock cars, sports cars and touring cars, from SCCA racing beginning in 1987 through 2023 starts. Key results include two Daytona 24 Hours wins in IMSA and the 2005 Nurburgring 24 Hours. His only NASCAR wins came in the Truck and Nationwide series.
Boris Said is an American driver whose career ran from SCCA club racing beginning in 1987 into the 2020s. He is known for endurance wins in sports cars and for a long run of part-time NASCAR starts, many of them on road courses where his results were strongest.
Who is Boris Said?
Boris Robert Said III is an American professional racing driver who has raced stock cars, sports cars and touring cars. He was born on 18 September 1962. His father, Bob Said, was a sports car racer and an Olympic bobsledder, so motorsport was part of the family long before Boris began his own career.
Said's first interest was motocross. In 1985, while attending the Detroit Grand Prix as a spectator, he met the SCCA champion Bob Sharp. He began racing with the SCCA in 1987 and was named SCCA rookie of the year in 1988. Those club-level years gave him the grounding for professional competition.
A road-course specialist whose wins ran from Daytona to the Nurburgring and whose NASCAR starts stretched from 1995 to 2023.
How did Said build his sports car record?
Said's sports car record grew step by step. He drove for Baer Racing from 1991, a team that later became Baer Brake Systems, and in 1993 he took an IMSA ride in a BMW M3. Two Daytona endurance wins followed, in 1997 and 1998, along with a 12 Hours of Sebring victory in 1998.
His best-known sports car result came in 2005, when he became the first American to win the 24 Hours Nurburgring. He drove a BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GTR with Pedro Lamy, Duncan Huisman and Andy Priaulx, and the win secured his place in the endurance record books.
Earlier, in 2000, he drove a BMW M3 for PTG Racing Group in the GT category of the American Le Mans Series and won at Laguna Seca. PTG finished third overall in the GT category that year.
What was Said's NASCAR debut like?
Said made his NASCAR debut in 1995 at Sears Point International Raceway, driving the No. 4 Ford F-150 for Irvan-Simo Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series. He started 25th and finished 24th in a 26-truck field after overheating problems. The start was modest, but it marked the beginning of a long association with stock car racing.
The following year he made three starts in Irvan's No. 28 Ford, with a best finish of thirteenth at I-70 Speedway. In 1997 he moved to the Truck Series full time in the No. 44 Federated Auto Parts Ford. That first full season brought a second-place finish at the Pronto Auto Parts 400K and a 16th-place points finish.
The 1997 season also brought his first major dispute. After contact with the championship contender Rich Bickle at Sonoma in October, Said retaliated on track. Both drivers apologised the next day, but Said was fined $15,000 and suspended until he paid it.
Did Said win a Truck Series race?
Yes. In 1998 he won his first Truck Series race at Sears Point, and in the same season he took his first truck pole at Heartland Park Topeka. Those results were his first NASCAR wins, and they came in the same year he made his Busch Series debut.
The Busch Series debut came at Watkins Glen International, where he finished 40th in the No. 12 Zippo Chevrolet owned by Jimmy Spencer. In 1999 he cut back his truck schedule to six events, running for Irvan-Simo, Team Racing and Bobby Rahal, and earning poles at Portland and Topeka.
When did Said reach the Cup Series?
Said made his Winston Cup debut in 1999 at Watkins Glen, qualifying on the outside pole and leading nine laps before engine problems ended his race in the No. 14 Ford. He also finished 34th at Homestead-Miami Speedway that year. His Cup career continued in short stints, mostly on road courses, into the 2020s.
In 2000 he made his final truck start for five years at Portland, finishing fifteenth. He then returned to the Cup Series with Jimmy Spencer, finishing 42nd at Sears Point. He tried the race at Watkins Glen that season but did not qualify because his team had no owner's points.
What were Said's best Cup results?
His best Cup results came on road courses and on the Daytona oval. He finished third at Watkins Glen in 2005 and fourth in the 2006 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, his highest finish on an oval. In 2007 he posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time overall for the Daytona 500 and finished 14th after starting 23rd.
The 2001 season gave him his first Cup top ten. At Watkins Glen he tried to pass Jeff Burton for the lead on the final restart, got held up in traffic and slipped to eighth. A year later, at Sears Point, he took pole and ran in the top ten all day, but he and Ron Fellows forgot to pit before a caution, which cost them the win. Said recovered from 26th to sixth.
The 2003 Watkins Glen race is the one Said has described as the biggest disappointment of his career. He believed he had the best car he had ever driven, but he was taken out by Robby Gordon, who went on to win the race. In 2006 he also earned his first Nextel Cup pole on an oval, at the Pepsi 400.
Did Said win a NASCAR race in the Nationwide Series?
Yes. On 29 August 2010 he won his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Robby Gordon ran out of fuel with three laps to go, and Said then held off Max Papis, who lost the lead after jumping the curb too high in the final turn.
The finish drew wide television attention. Said finished a bumper ahead of Papis at the line. The same year he also drove a one-race deal for Red Bull Racing at Watkins Glen, replacing the ill Brian Vickers.
What happened at Watkins Glen in 2011?
In 2011 Said collided with David Ragan on the final lap at Watkins Glen, sending David Reutimann flipping into the guardrail. A confrontation with Greg Biffle followed in the garage, and crew members from several teams had to hold Said back. NASCAR gave no penalties, and the two drivers later settled the dispute with a phone call.
After the race Said apologised for wrecking Ragan, but his comments about Biffle were blunt. He said he would not settle the matter on track, because wrecking cars was not the right way to do it.
How did Said's NASCAR career continue after 2011?
Said kept racing in selected road-course events. He joined Frank Stoddard's FAS Lane Racing for the Sprint Cup road courses in 2012, and he returned for the same two races in 2013. The team became Go FAS Racing in 2014 after a merger with Go Green Racing.
In 2015 he replaced the injured Kyle Busch in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity car for several races. His best finish in that car was fourth at Watkins Glen during the Zippo 200. At Road America he said that race could be his final NASCAR start. He still returned to the No. 32 at Watkins Glen in 2016, finishing 24th, and in 2017 he drove the No. 33 Chevrolet for Circle Sport at Sonoma, finishing 29th. Later that year he announced that the Watkins Glen race would be his final NASCAR start, and he finished 30th there.
He was entered for the 2021 Xfinity race at Circuit of the Americas in the No. 13 for MBM Motorsports. He attempted the Texas Grand Prix in 2022, starting 37th and finishing 26th, and in 2023 Hendrick Motorsports gave him a Charlotte ROVAL Xfinity ride that ended without qualifying.
How did Said perform outside NASCAR?
Said made regular appearances in other series. He raced in Australia's V8 Supercars in 2008, finishing nineteenth at Phillip Island with Matt Neal and failing to finish at Bathurst after a teammate crash. In 2011 he returned for the Gold Coast 600 alongside Steve Owen with Paul Morris Motorsport, finishing 18th on Saturday and seventh on Sunday.
He also competed in the X Games. In 2007 he entered a rally car at X Games XIII with John Buffum as co-driver, and in 2015 he raced in the Stadium Super Trucks category at X Games Austin, finishing fourth in his heat and missing the final after a last-chance qualifier.
In Trans-Am, Said captured the 2002 championship, winning all but four races that season. A 2003 dispute with series officials led to a 45-day suspension for alleged unprofessional conduct. He returned in 2019 and won the 2021 Pirelli Atlanta SpeedTour at Road Atlanta, as well as the SpeedFest at Laguna Seca, both in a Dodge for Weaver Technologies Racing.
Career summary by series
| Series | Active years | Notable results |
|---|---|---|
| IMSA sports cars | 1993 onward | 24 Hours of Daytona wins in 1997 and 1998; 12 Hours of Sebring win in 1998 |
| Nurburgring 24 Hours | 2005 | First American overall winner, BMW M3 GTR |
| Craftsman Truck Series | 1995 to 2000, 2005 | Win at Sears Point and pole at Heartland Park Topeka in 1998; second at Pronto Auto Parts 400K in 1997 |
| NASCAR Cup Series | 1999 to 2017, 2022 | Third at Watkins Glen in 2005; fourth at Pepsi 400 in 2006; 14th at Daytona 500 in 2007 |
| Busch or Nationwide Series | 1998 to 2023, part-time | Montreal win in 2010; part-time road-course starts for several teams |
| Trans-Am | 2002, 2019 to 2021 | 2002 championship; Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca wins in 2021 |
| V8 Supercars | 2008 and 2011 | Nineteenth at Phillip Island in 2008; seventh on Sunday at the Gold Coast 600 in 2011 |
Legacy and family
Said's career is closely tied to the No Fear apparel and action-sports company, which he co-founded and which sponsored much of his racing. He also established Honda and Suzuki motorcycle dealerships at the age of 21, founded a BMW dealership in Murrieta, California in 2011, and is a co-owner of the K1 Speed go-kart franchise.
His father drove in a Formula One race in 1959 and in the 1959 Daytona 500, and was a United States Olympic bobsled driver in 1968 and 1972. Boris's son, Boris Jr, is also a racing driver. He competed in dirt bikes and go-karts before making his Trans-Am debut at Road Atlanta in 2020.
