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Boris Said is a BAMF


Das Borgen

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I consider mylsef a Boris Said fan

 

here's a nice article on him

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2006-08-01-said-cover_x.htm

 

some nice takeaways

 

Before his first race in 1987, Said was asked if he wanted to buy tires. "I don't need tires, these are brand new and they last 30,000 miles," he said.

No, a BF Goodrich employee explained, you need a more durable version for racing. "I thought, 'Yeah, right. I'm no idiot; they're trying to rip me off,' " Said recalls saying.

He finished second in a 40-minute race that turned his street tires into smoldering chunks. He tried renting a Mustang for the next race so he would have spare wheels. Instead, he cannibalized the car for spare parts when the fuel pump in his race car failed.

"I called Hertz and said, 'Sorry, your car won't start, and I don't know why. I've got to get to the airport,' " he says. "If you ask me how I got from there to becoming a Nextel Cup team owner, I have no idea."

 

he became the first American to win a 24-hour event at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, a 15½-mile road course in Germany that requires 110 shifts a lap

 

 

He went missing once after a wreck at Watkins Glen International. "Everyone was worried he had a head injury and was wandering around the track about to get run over," Simo says. "Twenty minutes later Boris came walking back with a slice of pizza from the concession stand."

 

http://bhchili.com/images/lbgp-2.gif

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Very cool. The post-crash pizza one is pure win and is how racing should still be.

 

However needing 110 shifts to circle the Nordschliffe is really only boggling for a circle-track fan. Monaco and Suzuka are each around 46-48 gear-shifts in a F1 race and those are only 2mi and 3.5mi circuits respectively. And those are only the 4th highest in number of shifts. The 'ring is relatively easy on transmissions, but diabolical on engines.

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Jalopnik did a piece on him this week too that was pretty good.

 

I heard some stories about him running races with no pit crew. He would pull into the pits, get out of his car, change his own tires, then get back in and continue racing. Not sure if it's legend or truth, but he's definitely a pretty cool guy.

 

I respect guys like Boris Said and Randy Probst a lot because they started out on their own. True grassroots racers.

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Mallard,

it's truth

http://jalopnik.com/5683163/why-boris-said-is-absolutely-the-man

 

I too like Randy. I was really happy to watch him race his KPAX Volvo at Mid-OH this year. A friend of mine got to talk to him for a while and he told me about how nice and welcoming Randy was all the while giving him a tour of the Volvo

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