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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Dream Lives On For Said
Boris Said’s victory at Montreal was his first NASCAR win since 1998...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 01, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Boris Said hasn't given up on making it in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
If you want proof that the American Dream is alive and well, look no further than Boris Said.

Said, the Brillo-headed sports-car racer, has tried for years to get a toehold in NASCAR and for years has come tantalizingly close. He’s raced his own cars and those of other owners. He nearly won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona a few years back in what would have been one of the biggest upsets in stock-car history.

He’s also been on the pole at Daytona midway through qualifying when rain washed out the session and knocked him out of the race. He’s been wrecked by Tony Stewart, allegedly stiffed by a team owner who owed him money and had all sorts of rotten luck. Yet he’s never given up.

And at the ripe old age of 47, when most drivers have packed it in, Said’s still living the dream. In all likelihood, he’ll never have a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup ride with a major team, but who knows? Said’s upset victory Sunday in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Montreal may have opened up a door or two for him in NASCAR’s top division.

“One of my bucket list goals is to try to win in all three series in NASCAR and that just ticked off another box,” he said of his Montreal victory. “I know that winning in Cup is an even loftier goal, but I’m still gonna try and do it and I’m gonna keep working at it. No matter who says it can’t be done, I’m just gonna keep working at it until I can’t do it anymore. After Sunday it kind of feels like I made it to the top of Mount Everest and now it’s on to the next one.”

Judging by the responses Said got after his victory, there just might be some new options for him next season.

“I look at the finish and the difference between winning and losing was a foot or two,” Said noted. “When I got back to the hotel I had 170 text messages and hundreds of e-mails I haven’t even answered yet, so it’s just amazing how much one foot means in terms of what people think about how you did. I don’t know if it’s gonna open up opportunities, but, hopefully, I’m trying to put my deal together for next year – even if it’s part-time – it should help me with that.”

According to Said, his best option for 2011 might simply be another year like this one, hitting the road-course races and some big events.
VIDEO: Last Lap Nationwide Montreal Boris Said wins at Montreal. (Image: SPEED)

“I think for me to do a full schedule on my own is just a lofty goal,” he said. “I’m really gonna look more realistically as far as sponsorship goes and just try to find a part-time deal, where I can give them all the road races, Daytona and maybe Indianapolis – just do the big, marquee races – and try to get a sponsor that just wants to dabble and get some good visibility dabbling. I think that’s my niche, so that’s what I’m gonna go after.”

And although Said, like many NASCAR racers, is struggling to find sponsorship at the moment, he figures he has an ace in the hole that others don’t.

“I have something that money can’t buy and that’s the relationship I have with Jack Roush, the information that he gives me, and the equipment I’m allowed to use is very valuable,” Said opined. “It’s a valuable commodity that all the money in the world just can’t buy, so I’m thinking that will help me find some sponsorship.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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