When you’re a ringer who specialises in helping NASCAR teams on road courses like Watkins Glen, you’ve probably learned a thing or two about coming into a team and getting good results.
Just don’t ask Boris Said to explain what they might be, because he can’t.
“I guess I would like to say I have learned things,” Boris says, “but I have never done it any other way, so I don’t really know.
“I mean there’s a feel of the car I like, but it’s unfortunate that you don’t get a whole lot of practice on race weekends so you have to get it done quickly. If the car’s good off the trailer, that makes it a lot easier, so that’s what I am kind of hoping.”
Actually, Said’s plan for this weekend’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen is pretty simple: get as much out of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota as possible, make no mistakes, and be there at the end.
“My realistic goal is to try to get the car in a position to be in the top 10 near the end of the race and if I can do that, then my goal is going to be getting into the top five,” he says.
‘I am going there with the intention of trying to get that car in a position to win the race’ – Boris Said
“And if I can be in the top five with 10 to go, then I think anything is possible. I am going there with the intention of trying to get that car in a position to win the race.”
Said was drafted by the Red Bull team to drive the No. 83 at Watkins Glen based on his past success in running road course events for NASCAR teams. Or maybe Red Bull are hoping to appeal to the legions of Boris’s fans, known as Said Heads, in a desperate bid to expand their market share in the middle-aged, curly wig-wearing man category.
Although with his 12 top-10 finishes in 31 NASCAR road course starts in both Sprint Cup and Nationwide series races, it’s likely he was chosen for his uncanny ability to get a stock car around a racetrack.
He replaces Reed Sorenson, who started the past five races in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota as a fill-in for its regular driver Brian Vickers, who is out for the rest of the year as he undergoes treatment for blood clots.
One of the big keys to performing well in the race will be taking care of the brakes as he slows the 3,500lb (1,600kg) Cup car 11 times per lap at the Glen. And a good handling car doesn’t hurt either, Said jokes.
NASCAR runs on a shortened version of the Watkins Glen track, using an 11-turn, 2.45-mile (4km) layout that cuts out four corners and about a mile from the lap.
While the longer track is Said’s favourite in North America, he thinks fans see better racing from NASCAR on the cutdown version.
‘The way the car reacts is obviously quite a bit different than how things work in an open wheel car’ – Scott Speed
“I love the long track and I wish we could race on it, but even the short track is still fun,” he comments. “That track actually suits the stock cars really well in a road race. You can use them there, unlike Infineon Raceway which is hard on the cars because they are so heavy.”
But, the biggest obstacle he’ll face this weekend is racing for the Red Bull team for the first time.
“The challenge is getting that cohesiveness with the team and communication with the crew chief that is built over time,” Said explains. “It makes it tougher, but not impossible.”
His team-mate for the weekend, Scott Speed, has plenty of experience on twisty tracks from his days in open wheel, including Formula One, but it really hasn’t translated into road course success in NASCAR. The best he’s finished on a road course in three Cup starts was 18th earlier this year at Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway, although he did start fourth and finish 10th in the Nationwide race at the Glen last year.
“The way the car reacts is obviously quite a bit different than how things work in an open wheel car,” Speed says. “I don’t feel like I have a huge advantage with my background.
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