Full Throttle: The Unstoppable Boris Said

On Break/Fix we’re always trying to bring you closer to the legends of motorsport—and today’s guest is a true icon, known for his fearless driving and unmistakable presence on and off the track. We’re talking about none other than pro-driver Boris Said. With a career spanning decades, Boris has raced—and won—in just about every discipline you can think of: from sports cars and touring cars to NASCAR and endurance racing. He’s a Daytona 24 champion, a Trans-Am winner, and one of the most respected road course specialists in American racing history. 

Whether it’s his aggressive style, his versatile talent, or that signature head of hair under the helmet, Boris has carved out a legacy that’s as bold as it is inspiring. So buckle up—we’re diving into the wild ride that is the career of Boris Said.

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00:00 Meet Boris Said: A Racing Legend 01:27 Boris Said's Early Career and Influences 05:53 Family Legacy and Racing with His Son 06:59 Racing Stories and Memorable Moments 09:53 Competing Against the Best 13:50 Iconic Racetracks and Experiences 24:03 Becoming a Road Course Ringer 29:26 Teaching Dale Jr. Road Racing 30:53 Driving Dale Sr.'s Car 34:41 Racing in the X Games 36:56 Rivalries and Friendships in Racing 44:41 The Importance of Go-Karting 45:41 Future Plans and Reflections; Conclusion

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Break Fix podcast is all about capturingthe living history of people from all
over the autos sphere, from wrench,turners, and racers to artists, authors,
designers, and everything in between.
Our goal is to inspire a new generationof Petrolhead that wonder to.
How did they get that jobor become that person?
The road to success is paved by allof us because everyone has a story

(00:27):
on break fix.
We're always trying to bring youcloser to the legends of Motorsport.
I. Today's guest is a true iconknown for his fearless driving
and unmistakable presence.
On and off the track we're talkingabout none other than pro driver.
Boris said, with a career spanningdecades, Boris has raced and won in
just about every discipline you canthink of from sports cars and touring

(00:49):
cars to NASCAR and endurance racing.
He's a Daytona 24 hours champion, aTransAm winner, and one of the most
respected road course specialistsin American racing history.
Boris, whether it's your aggressivestyle, your versatile talent, or
that signature head of hair underthe helmet, which, uh, has receded
somewhat since the, uh, early days ofyour career, it was very impressive.

(01:10):
You've carved out a legacy that'sas bold as it is inspiring.
And joining me tonight is Mike Carr,our resonant sports car, an endurance
racing guru, and we're delighted to havehim back in the studio with us tonight.
So welcome back, Mike.
Thank you very much.
Happy to be here.
And with that, let'swelcome Boris to break fix.
How you doing?
It's good to be here.
Well, Boris, like all good superherostories, there's an origin.

(01:31):
So let's talk about how you got yourstart in the world of motorsports and
what drew you in all those years ago,and how did your early experiences
shape the kind of driver you became?
Well, I mean, I didn't reallytake the traditional route.
I owned a motorcycledealership when I was 21.
I was one of the youngestHonda dealers ever.
The guy that helped me get thatdealership was a guy named John McLean.

(01:51):
He owned a Ford dealership.
And what happened was I bought thedealership but I couldn't get approved
for financing for the credit line.
And he was a big fan becausethe motorcycle shop I worked at
before, he was like a race dad.
And uh, we were all in the motocrossand I helped his kid and him,
and so he became a fake partner.
And for doing that, I gave him a couplefree dirt bikes back then in 1985.

(02:12):
One day, he goes, Hey, I have thisfree trip to the Detroit Grand Prix.
It's a Ford trip.
It's all first class hotel.
I go, what is it?
He goes, it's an F1 race.
I go, ah, car racing is stupid.
I don't need to go to that.
You know?
I just never watched it,never knew much about it.
I ended up going, you know, andI didn't want to go, but as soon
as I walked out on the roof.
In Detroit and I saw Ton Santa Go by andthis Black Lotus, I was like instantly,

(02:36):
like I gotta get a Formula One car.
That's the coolest thingI've ever seen in my life.
So, you know, one thing led toanother, I met a guy named Bob Sharp
who had a business up the street fromwhere my dealership was, and I ran
into him in, in the paddock and hesaid, Hey, what are you doing here?
I didn't know you were in the race.
I go, that was my first race ever.
He goes, oh, you like it?
I go, I want it.
I wanna get a Formula One car.
Where do I get one?
How much are they the stupidestquestion in the world looking back.

(02:58):
Right?
But he took the time to sit me down andexplain like, Hey, you know, you gotta
go to the Skip Barber Racing School andthen you get yourself to showroom stock
car and you race some SCCA and, and youknow, at the end of the conversation I was
like, but how much is the Formula One car?
Because that's all I could think about.
But I did exactly that.
I went to the Skip Barber Racing schooland then bought a showroom stock car.
And originally I was only gonnarace cars for a year and then go

(03:20):
back to the motorcycle business.
You know, this is year 39 right now.
So it was a crazy ride, butI, I loved every minute of it.
You didn't ask your dadhow to get into an F1 car?
No, my dad.
I didn't really know he raced.
He left home when I was six.
You know, I had the typical singlemom living with our grandparents.
Not a whole lot of parental supervision.

(03:41):
I was pretty much on the careerpath to jail as a kid, you know,
I got in a lot of trouble, but asa kid, you know, when you're 12,
13, 14 years old, it's just fun.
But I didn't know any better.
And then when I was 14, I got ajob in a motorcycle shop for like
these bullies, you know, theseguys are rough guys, ex roofers,
and they straightened my life out.
They just.
Made me work and work and work and work.
So I didn't know much about my fatheruntil I went to, you know, the first

(04:04):
few races when I started racing, peoplewould say, oh, you're Bob Said's kid.
You know, your dad raced.
And I never knew he raced the firstNASCAR race at the Daytona 500.
You know, the first FormulaOne race at Sebring.
I had no idea.
You know, one time I was lucky enoughto race for the Wood Brothers, Eddie and
Lenny, I mean, they're great great guys.
First race to Daytona on the asphalt.
He gave me the result sheet and my dad,he finished last, but he was in the race.

(04:27):
So I learned more about my dad when Istarted racing than I ever knew about him.
Wow.
So I guess you couldsay it's in your genes.
'cause I didn't know he did it,but that's, it's all I think about
even after 39 years, it's still, Ieat, sleep, live and love racing.
It's interesting you say that, Boris,because you have one of the most
unique but simple last names in racing.
Have you ever traced back your genealogy?
Are you somehow related to likeTatio N and we don't know it?

(04:50):
No.
No, man, I, I look back, you know, mygrandfather immigrated, you know, he was
a. Officer in Zas army when the BolshevikRevolution, he immigrated and went through
Ellis Island, you know, that's all.
I had never met him.
My wife went and did all that.
She went down the rabbit hole and all thatstuff, you know, I always thought the name
was Sayeed, that's how it's pronounced.
I thought, oh, you know, I'mMiddle Eastern and they must
have immigrated to Russia.

(05:11):
But you know, one time I wasin a Thai restaurant and the
guy asked me, he goes, Sayed.
He goes, oh yeah.
I think they, you know, they wentfrom probably Syria to Russia.
No, impossible.
He goes, you look like a Jew.
And so we started thinking they probablychopped the name at Ellis Islands.
You know, and I did the genealogything and sure enough, I'm, you
know, 30% Jewish, so he was right.
This professor, I've always saidmy whole life, I'm just a mutt.

(05:32):
I never really cared about that stuff.
I was just always looking forwardand always looking to work hard,
have fun, and, and then once Ifound racing, that was my passion.
You know, I've turned that into acareer and pretty much my whole life is.
Based around racing now, you know,currently I'm a partner with Rick
Hendrick, which if somebody would'vetold me that 20 years ago, I
would've told 'em they were crazy.
And uh, we've been partnersin a car dealership for 14

(05:52):
years and been quite the ride.
Talking about it being in yourblood, your dad Bob, his name
was actually Boris as well.
And your son is Boris and Right.
But you're racing with your son now?
Yeah, I'm actually, Boris said the third,but when my son was born, you know,
in the hospital I just said Junior,'cause I was good friends with Dale
Junior and I liked the name Junior.
I thought Boris said the fourthsounds kind of like I didn't want

(06:12):
him to get made fun of at school.
I didn't even wanna name him Boris.
I used to tell people I wasgonna name him Simon, and they
would just walk away laughing.
Simon said,
that's great.
My last name's Carr and Ithreatened to name my kid bumper
or something stupid like that.
We couldn't think of a nameother than Boris, so we just,
yeah, let's call him junior.
Because I didn't know thefirst two anyway really.

(06:34):
You know, growing up he didn'twant anything to do with racing.
I took him all over the worldand that wasn't his thing.
And I'm like, that's fine.
And it wasn't until like five years ago,he said, Hey, I wanna try a go-kart.
You know, we went, go-karting and I didn'treally like the go-kart scene too much.
It was pretty differentthan the road racing scene.
So we bought a Miata and we went MIAuto Racing and SCCA and that was great.
And then, you know, one thing led toanother, now he is racing a TransAm car.

(06:56):
So we're having a lot of fun goingaround the country doing that together.
Getting back to the, the beginning,what did you first get into?
So I bought a showroom stock Mustangand drove it to the racetrack and
duct taped my numbers on there.
I remember the first race was atdriver's school at Pocono, Pennsylvania.
And then I was gonna do the race.
It was a double regional right afterthat, and I did that on the tires.

(07:17):
I bought the car on and I met BF Goodrichand they were motorcycle guys, so they
were, they gave me tires my first weekend,you know, just because we became friends.
Literally that just started it and I juststarted going to the races and I, you
know, I did some crazy things the firstyear I started really late and I might
have rode in a lot of fake races in my logbooks so I could get a pro license to do
a six hour race, and I did a six hour prorace in Atlanta escort endurance series.

(07:42):
I even came up with a fake co-driver'cause I'm like, I'm just gonna
run the whole six hours myself.
I'm not gonna let anybody drive my car.
Literally got out and fueled it myself,swapped the tires from left to right
myself, and did the whole six hours.
It was really neat.
It was fun.
And then the last race of the year wasat Seabring, and now I'm getting smarter.
So I rented a car from Hertz, a Mustang,so I had spare parts, spare wheels, spare

(08:03):
everything, you know, for $70 a day.
It was the best deal ever.
So that, that was my first year racing.
That's amazing.
I think it's the first time I've everheard that somebody's got a backup
car that came from a rental agency.
That's awesome.
So during the weekend at Sebring,it went through a fuel pump, so it
was on jack stands and didn't run.
And then in the race I. You know, Ihad brought two guys with me to fuel

(08:25):
and when I pulled in I would get outwith a T handle and start changing
the tires while they were fueling.
And when I get half ofthat done, I'd get back in.
You know, I didn't reallycare how I finished.
I just wanted to do the whole six hours.
I had another fake co-driver on there,and near the end of the race I. I think I
was coming in from my last stop and as Ipulled in, all these guys jumped over the
wall with air guns and they start changingthe tires and they were all the saline

(08:46):
racing guys from the Saline Ford team.
My guy comes over, I go, Hey,what the hell's going on?
He goes, well, they needyou to finish in the top 10.
The wind manufacturersright where you are.
If you finish where you are, Fordcan win the manufacturers, if
not Porsche's gonna win, but theydon't wanna get disqualified,
so they wanna put this guy in.
George Fulmer.
And I didn't know who he was.
We've heard of him.
Yeah.
I didn't know anything about racingwhen he's on the pit wall, ready to

(09:07):
jump over the wall and me get outand I just tell him, I said, I told
him, Hey, thanks for the tires, butI'm driving my own car the last hour.
You know, I've already driven five hours.
Right.
Gone through this whole thing.
And so, yeah.
And they ended up notdisqualifying me 'cause.
Porsche thought it was so funny.
I did the whole six hours and they werelaughing at me for changing the tires
with a T handle and the the whole bit.
And at the end of the weekend whenwe left, I had to call Hertz and

(09:29):
say, Hey, your car won't start.
It's in the parking lot.
So yeah, and that wasmy first year racing.
That was 1987.
Then in 88 I sold my motorcycle dealershipand I said, I'm gonna go racing.
And I bought a Corvette Challenge car.
I did the Pro Series Corvette Challengeand you know, I was a one man band in my
van and open trailer and drove around thecountry and had the best time of my life.

(09:50):
So you would've raced against someother folks that we had on the show.
I'm just gonna throw some names out there.
Andy Pilgrim, DavidMurray, Johnny O'Connell.
You all are from the samegraduating class, right?
Yeah.
Andy Pilgrim was one of thefirst guys I ended up meeting
in the Corvette Challenge.
He was with a private tier team.
These guys Al Bear from Texas.
After the Corvette Challenge, Iended up racing their Mustang a lot.

(10:11):
Over the years, you know, Andy and Iwere, after 88, we we're great friends
and we ended up racing on the same Camaroteam for mainline racing a lot of years.
And, and we've racedin BMW over the years.
So we've raced a lot together.
Uh, actually all those names we've raced.
Yeah.
And Andy is a awesome driver, right.
And a great guy.
But he's also disgusting and I'm gonnatell you why it is ought to be good.

(10:32):
So we were teammates.
And you know, he's very English,sounds very English, and I'm
like, what are you eating?
He goes, A dripping sandwich.
I'm like, what the hellis a dripping sandwich?
He goes, oh, my mom made'em when I was little.
I still love him.
They take the bacon grease, youknow, and they pour it into a can.
You know that white grease?
Yeah.
And he puts it on white bread and thenadds salt, and that's their idea of

(10:53):
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Dripping sandwich.
I'm like, Andy.
I'm gonna remember thatfor the rest of my life.
And that was probably 30years ago he told me that.
And I still, when I hear AndyPilgrim, I think dripping sandwiches.
Oh, that's crazy.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Well, Andy, Andy's a wheelman anda really good guy and always has
been where I got plugged into Boris.
Was through my dad and he's like, yougotta come watch this guy, because

(11:17):
he was watching World Challenge.
He had been following your career sincethe early days and stuff like that.
And so for me, seeing you on TVand the Mustangs and the BMWs, then
competing against the Audis in WorldChallenge with Mike, a Lotti behind
the wheel, the S fours, stuff likethat, it got my spidey sense tingling.
So I wanted to know, you know, wasthis the second coming, like it was in
TransAm in the old GTO days where Audi,quote unquote, the unfair advantage,

(11:40):
what was it like racing against?
The four wheel drive cars with aclassic rear wheel drive setup.
They were better, they had an advantage.
But I didn't care what I raced.
I just wanted to race and I alwayswanted to race the next fastest car.
What's the fastest car I can get in?
Like, you know, I'm in ashowroom stock Mustang, now I'm
in a showroom stock Corvette.
Now I'm in a world challenge Corvetteand I, I was always just trying

(12:01):
to get to the next fastest car.
I wanna get in a cup car, I wannarace against Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Right?
And then when you're, you'reracing World Challenge.
I mean, that seemed like everytime I got somewhere it was
like, this is the pinnacle.
This is unbelievable.
I'm getting a paycheckto drive these cars.
And there were always guys along theway, like Mike ate is a hardcore racer.
Doesn't look like it.
You know, he looks like he should havea pizza restaurant and the way he talks.

(12:24):
He's a great, great guy andhe was deadly in those cars.
I mean, he was, he was a really goodfront wheel drive guy and really
good in the four wheel drive cars.
I bring this up because it'sa constant conversation.
Nowadays, as I'm sure it was back then,which is BOP balance of performance, do
you think it was right to keep addingweight to the Audis and penalize them
and penalize them, or should Ford orBMW wherever built a better mouse trap?

(12:47):
That's the argument against BOP, becausethat has perpetuated your entire career.
But I, you know, especially now in theGT three series, it's whatever cars,
whatever the BOP gives it that weekend.
And I just always thought, you know what?
I don't give a crap about that.
I can't control that.
You know, so why worry aboutsomething I can't control?
I see that it's not right for, youknow, one car to win every race.

(13:09):
It's not gonna look good.
The other manufacturers will leaveand those are the guys paying you.
It's a tough job for the sanctioning bodyto try to get every manufacturer to win.
That's what they want.
So everybody's happy, butare you equalizing drivers
or are you equalizing cars?
That's the big argument really.
The Audi that Michael Audi drove was awell-funded team, backed by Audi, which
was a lot for World Challenge at the time.

(13:31):
And so I think if they were in two wheeldrive, they'd probably still be just
as competitive 'cause of, of all theengineering and everything they had behind
it, and they had the really good drivers.
But you know, I never reallybitched about stuff like that.
I didn't really see the point.
I just.
Drive harder.
You gotta figure out a way to beat 'em.
Always gonna be a weakness, you know,no matter how good their car is, is
the way I always thought in my head.
I started racing in an Audi and youknow, we always just prayed for rain,

(13:54):
but let's talk about road courses.
You've had good success at Sonoma Daytona.
Sebring, Watkins Glen.
Bathhurst, I wanna hear aboutBathhurst and the Berg Green.
Obviously the Berg Green was a high point.
Yeah, I mean, Berg Green to me is, it'sthe best piece of road in the world.
You know, I remember we went over there,I forget what year we did an IMS race on

(14:15):
the Berg Green Grand Prix Circuit, youknow, and I was a teammate with Han Stook,
so he was taking me around the old trackand it was just like, are you kidding me?
I mean, a track that three times the lap,your all four wheels are off the ground.
It is the craziest.
Piece of road in the world.
And so I was addicted to it and Iwanted to do it so bad, so I kept
bugging BMW to get me a berg ring.

(14:35):
And they kept saying, no,an American can't learn it.
No, it's too hard.
No, it's not an American thing.
And Hans, he talkedhim in to let me do it.
They flew me over there.
This is one of the mostfun days they ever had.
They gave me two BMWM threeCSL lightweights street cars.
And it was just open days withthe public and they go, okay,
those cars are yours for two days.
Old cars.
Both cars.

(14:55):
'cause I would go out in one with Hansand we'd run 10 laps, fuel it up, go
out, run another 10 laps, bring it back,and they'd change the tires and brakes.
And I'd take the other one andburn that up for a couple hours
and I just kept rotating them.
What a joy.
It was the most fun I've ever had intwo days, and that was in a street car.
So then going back in the racecar, it was just unbelievable.
You know, we did a lot of VLN races in oneshort, you know, they were giving us three

(15:19):
hour races to get ready for the 24 hour,but the first 24 hour race, which was a
big deal for BMW, it was first time backthere as a factory effort on the pay lap.
Both cars broke down.
Yeah.
They packed the radiators with dryice so they wouldn't overheat on
the, you know, 30 minute pay lap.
The Russell Line fittingsfroze and cracked.
So they both lost tranny on the first lap,so we were way behind that first year.

(15:41):
I had a lot of speed, but I crashedthe car at like three in the morning
going by a slow car down in the foxhole.
He didn't see me turned in andclipped me in the right rear.
And you know, I dumpster the thing.
I remember going back to the hotel,telling my wife and just like,
oh man, I just screwed the pooch.
There's no way they'reever gonna invite me back.
I'm bummed that was a low, low pointin racing, but they invited me back and
then next year we finished one, two, Iwas second, and then 2005 I became the

(16:05):
first American to ever win that race.
And congratulations.
Probably one of the highlightsof my racing career was it
was one of the most fun cars.
It's the hardest race in the world by far.
I mean, you're lapping cars everythree laps, the difference in speed
and there's 230 cars on the trackand you're passing 50, 60 cars a lap.
It's unbelievable how much fun it is.
It's complete craziness.

(16:26):
Mike mentioned some great memoriesof racetracks you've been to.
There's an almost at LAMA withAndrea Robertson and her husband.
We could talk about that, maybehow that didn't play out, you know?
Is LAMA still a bucket list thing for you?
Well, I went to Lama the firsttime was in 94 with Callaway.
I put it on the pole.
It looked like, you know, we weregonna win, but less than halfway

(16:47):
through the race, you know, we hada French driver in the car that.
Didn't hear pit in twotimes and ran outta gas.
So we got disqualified and that was it.
It was really fun.
But then, yeah, I met theRobertsons and did a few races.
David Murray got me in to run withthem and I ran, you know, Seing
and another race and we were gonnago to LA Mall, but they only got
one entry, so I got kicked out.

(17:07):
But they were super nicepeople and it was a lot of fun.
But after going to Berg Ringand Bathurst Lamas kind of
boring, to be honest with you.
It's a big track.
It's all straightaways.
There's only 48 cars on there.
Berg ring is, that is the ultimatespectacle in in motor sports.
It is the craziest thing ever.
And I think the second craziestrace would be Bathurst 1000.
You know, those V eightsupercar guys are wide open.

(17:30):
They're nuts.
They're 10 tenths every single lap.
You know, you can watch that trackon tv, but the first time I went
there was with a buddy of mine.
He landed a helicopter there andI was like, are you kidding me?
This is what they race on.
It was.
So steep and so fast and soblind TV doesn't do it justice.
It's completely insane.
I've seen some video andit looked like bathhurst.

(17:51):
I could be wrong.
You're in a Mustang Fox body.
It's full of smoke and your headis out the window because you
can't see through the windshield.
No, that was actually aSonoma early in my career.
Okay.
In the Bayer brothers Mustang?
Yeah.
Yeah.
When I went to Bathurst, Iwas in a pretty badass car.
All right.
Let's come back to Bathurst in asecond, but tell me what it's like to
unbuckle and stick your head out thewindow and continue at race speed.

(18:14):
Well, I mean that was early in my careerand you know, an oil line or something
came off or something I thought, I go,man, I just gotta get back to the pits.
And I figured the only way I coulddo it is to unbuckle, 'cause I
couldn't see anything in the car.
That's when you're notreally thinking about safety.
Full speed.
Joey Chitwood hanging out the window,got it back, and unfortunately it
was the terminal oil line situation.
It looked horrible on video.

(18:35):
Yeah, it was as bad as it looked.
What else do you have to say aboutBathurst that looked incredible?
I mean, that VH Supercar isas professional as nascar.
Cup series, but all roadracers, those guys are some of
the best racers in the world.
You know, proven by McLaughlinAmbrose, SDG, coming over here.
They breed some really goodrace car drivers there.

(18:56):
So to be able to compete in that wasa lot of fun and got to do four B
eight supercar races over my career.
You know, once at Bathurst,Philip Islands, and then
twice at Surface Paradise.
Great memories, I have to say.
It's really fun to see SVG in nascar.
Kicking ass.
You know, like it's really fun.
Yeah.
To watch him just jump inand get right up to speed.
That was the deal I puttogether for him, you know?

(19:17):
'cause Justin Marks, we met at BMWwhen he was this young kid that came
over and we raced together and Ikind of mentored him a little bit.
I mean, back then he was this idiot kid,like, you know, every 20-year-old kid.
To see what he's becomenow in NASCAR is crazy.
'cause he is, in my opinion,he's the next Hendrick.
He's the next Penske, you know, he's that.
Next generation of, it's gonnabe the super teams in nascar.

(19:38):
So I got a call from Paul Morris and hegoes, Hey man, can, can you do me a favor?
Can you, you know, you know Shane, can youget him a ride in that Justin Marks car?
And I called Justin and asked him, andhe goes, ah, you know, I don't know, you
know, got a guy, I'm not really sure.
And I'm like, I go, Justin,I've raced with this guy.
This guy could win.
I'm telling you.
Yeah.
He goes, all right, I'll call him.
And he never called him.
So I called him backand really bugged him.

(19:59):
I go, Justin, I'm tellingyou this guy can win.
And so they ended upputting a deal together.
He goes, yeah, I'm gonnaput him in Chicago.
It was the first time in mylife I ever been on a race.
Me and my son, 'cause hewas, my son's a big gambler.
We bet on him.
And he paid off pretty good for us.
It was pretty neat to seehim win and he's a great guy.
Do you think Shane's a roadcourse guy or an oval guy?
I mean, he is a road courseracer, but you know, he seems

(20:20):
to do quite well at the oval.
He's getting there.
I mean.
It's so much harder now because when Iwas doing nascar, you know, you got three
hours of practice before the race and he'sgoing there with 20 minutes of practice
and qualifying to learn the ovals.
He's only really learning them when hegets in the race, and that's really hard.
So I, I hope they give him a coupleyears and I think he'll get it.

(20:41):
I mean, he's one of the bestdrivers I've ever seen besides
Connors Village, who I think is.
Probably the world's best.
There's a bunch of Connors, ConnorDi Felipe, I think you ran with him.
Yep.
In the BMWs.
Well, he ran in the prototype.
You know I was way before him.
Yeah.
But he was the secondAmerican to Winberg ring.
And he's good.
But I'm telling you, ConnorsVillage, if he went to Formula

(21:02):
One, he would beat those guys.
I've looked at his data.
I've never seen a kid like this.
He is head and shoulders aboveanyone I've ever seen or raced with,
and he is a nice kid, one of thenicest kids you'd ever wanna meet.
I wanna get your thoughts on the, thestate of sports car endurance racing.
Today.
We've got S-R-O-M-S-A-W-R-L-A-E-R,champ CAR WEC.

(21:23):
Even Lemons, SCCA is doing someTrans AM is doing a little bit.
Has it become accessible?
In a way that you've given anythought to, I love how popular it is.
I mean, to go to a 24 hour Daytonarace now, WeatherTech, it's packed.
Never had that kind of crowds.
Cars are beautiful to look at, you know,all the different GT three cars and

(21:43):
relatively, they keep 'em pretty equal.
Personally, I, I don'tlike racing those cars.
I think it's taken a lot of the skillaway, you know, to have paddle shift
and track control and a BS braking.
It took a lot of the skill away fromshifting through a gated shifter,
having to match the revs and usethe clutch and not use the clutch.
Trans Am now the TA one class.
That's the best race carthat anyone could ever drive.

(22:06):
It's almost 900 horsepower.
Some of 'em still have a gated shifter.
No a BS no track control.
Requires a lot offinesse, a lot of control.
The tires, you know, they stillgo 194 miles an hour at Road
America down the straightaway.
I mean, they really go.
In saying that I'm old school, so it'sme saying, you know, I'm riding my horse.
These cars are stupid.

(22:26):
So I, I get that.
And these GT three cars are just socool looking, you know, they have a
lot more arrow than the cars ever had.
The technology is unbelievable and they'rebeautiful looking cars, all of them.
I really don't enjoy driving 'em.
Like I enjoy driving a olderschool car with a gated shifter
and a lot of horsepower.
You know, I wish they had more horsepower.
Even nascar now they've dumbedthem down so bad, you know,

(22:48):
they're only 700 plus horsepower.
They used to be almost 900, andthat was a lot harder to drive.
You know, Mike brought up a really goodpoint about all the different sports
Car and endurance series that exist, andI'm sure we missed a few, but there's
also been a rise in vintage racing.
Do you see yourselfgetting involved in that?
Maybe something as outlandishas like the Lamont's Classic?
I still really enjoy driving.

(23:09):
I mean, I did a NASCAR race last year.
It was probably too old to do it.
I had a blast and I still enjoy Trans Am.
There's such good racingin all the series.
Now, one thing, I mean, you lookat real grassroots spec Miata.
You know, you go to an SCCA race thatRoad America, and you see 70 spec
Miatas driving around there, fourcars, bumper to bumper, drafting,
folding in each other's mirrors.

(23:30):
Yeah, those guys put on thebest show in racing, I think.
I mean, they're really, really goodand they're, it's amateur racing.
There's so much good racingnow in, in all this series.
It's really cool Now, I mean, you canturn on the tv, you can watch it anywhere.
Still after 39 years.
I love watching racing.
I love being around it.
You know, I have a reallysuccessful BMW dealership.
Super proud of it, building it.

(23:51):
But when I'm there, I personallydon't feel like I belong there.
Where if I'm at a go-kart track or an SECAnational or a TransAm race, I feel like
at home I just still love the race track.
I love car racing.
We may have breezed past it, but youare renowned for a number of things.
One being the road track ringer.
You know, I was doing some truck races.

(24:13):
Jimmy Spencer had me sub for himin a cup race when he got hurt.
Nobody knew who I was.
Showed up at Watkins Glen, qualifiedfifth, and then in the race,
you know, he started the race.
I got in, got all the way up to 12,spun out in a wreck, went all the way
to the back, got all the way up to 12.
Again, I forget where I finished,but in the top 15 or something.
So after that.
I started getting calls and I got, firstperson that called me was a guy named

(24:35):
Eddie Wood, the wood brothers, and theygo, Hey, uh, you want to go, uh, teach
my driver road racing to Elliot Sadler?
And I'm like, well, I'm not really ateacher, you know, well, we're gonna go up
to Sears Point, you know, be really good.
I go, well, I'm not really ateacher, but what are you thinking?
He goes, well, I'm gonna bring twocars up and do some lead follow.
I go, so I get to drive a car.
And he goes, yeah.
I go.
Okay, I'm in.
I get to go drive a another cup car.

(24:56):
I, I, for sure.
I'm doing that.
And so we finished the two days oftesting and it was fantastic, you know,
and they paid for my flight and a hoteland food, and treated me like a king.
It was great.
And at the end of the second day,he goes, well, what do I owe you?
And I go, well, I don't know.
Do me a favor down the road.
I'm good.
You know, you paid for all myexpenses and I had a blast driving.
Oh no, I gotta pay.
What, what do, what do you charge?
And I go, uh, just forget about it.

(25:17):
And I went home and, and that was it.
Two weeks later, I gota check in the mail.
That was my biggestcheck in racing by far.
And I just, I remember just lookingat it like, oh my God, this is crazy.
But what he did was he must have toldeverybody in the paddock because after
that my phone just started ringingto go testing and so I just became
this test guy testing for all theteams are these NASCAR guys who wanna

(25:37):
learn road tracks, all NASCAR guys.
Yeah.
There was 30 of them, youknow, over a few years.
So that's just got me to be, you know,every year when somebody got hurt.
Or didn't wanna race the road courses,they called me or Ron Fellows and
we became these road course Rainers.
It was an awesome, awesomeexperience and I love racing.
I love racers and just, I learnedso much by doing that and it, you

(25:57):
know, got me faster along the way.
We're sort of jumping around, youknow, talking about, I. Trucks and
NASCAR and road racing and everythingin between and jumping between
all these different disciplines inMotorsport, how were you able to adapt?
Or was it just Boris' full send?
We're gonna go as fast as we can.
No, you know, I, I did a lot ofweekends, like Automobile Magazine did

(26:17):
an article on me once at Sonoma calledThe Hardest Working Man in Racing at
Sonoma, I would do all three races,the Cup Race, the Southwest Tour race.
A TransAm race, you'rejumping back and forth.
The race days weren't the hardest.
The hardest was Friday doing two practicesin each car and then qualifying two cars.
So you're jumping back and forth a lot.
You know, the hardest thingabout that is I used to explain

(26:39):
it, it's like dating girls.
You know, every girl is different and youcan't say the same thing to every girl.
They get the resultsyou're looking for, right?
So they, they have their ownpersonality and that's how cars are.
When you sit in that car, it's like,am I in a batting cage or am I hitting
golf balls with the driving range?
Everything's different.
So I was always good at just switchingfrom one to another to another, and I,

(27:00):
I don't know, I just had a knack for it.
You know, one year at Daytona, 24 hours,I drove four different cars in the race.
I drove 18 hours of the race.
I drove Callaway C seven and GT one,and I drove three BMWs in the GT
class, which one of 'em we won and atone point in the race we were leading
in both classes, but the Callawayexpired about two in the morning.
And I won't name names, but you hearthings in even recent times of racing

(27:22):
where pro drivers are strugglingwith their engineers or struggling
with their crew chiefs to communicatehow the car should be set up.
Maybe they have braking problems,maybe they have steering problems,
electrical problems, whatever.
But now you're telling, you'rejumping between three different
cars, four different cars.
How are you able to translate your drivingstyle, how you want the car to act?
To three entirely differentteams, engineers to say, I

(27:43):
wanna steer off the rear end.
I don't want it to push.
I wanted to drive like that had tohave been a challenge to get those cars
dialed in so that you could just jumpbetween them and feel good about it.
It didn't really seemthat big a deal to me.
I mean, every car has, its.
Feeling you're just like, allright, it's a little loose here.
It's a little tight here.
Most important thing is Ineed to make a turn better.
And, and you pick somethingto make a turn better.
Like, can you put a little biggersprings in the back, in the cup car?

(28:05):
You know, the sports cars area lot more of a compromise, but
it never, I don't know, for somereason I always had a knack at it.
I had a really good butt with a goodfeeling, and, and I could translate what
I was feeling to the guys the years Idid in nascar, testing all the cars and
working with Penske, Childress Hendrick.
I knew what everybody had.
I knew what they were doing.

(28:25):
I had so much information.
I was really good at knowingwhat the car needed in that era.
You know, now the cars are sodifferent the way they run.
It's a lot harder where you,they'll change the shim.
The 16th shim in the shockwill make a big difference.
So you know now what you would justtell it feeling this, I needed to turn
a little better in the center and theengineers will come up with something.
Where back then it was so easyto say, yeah, you know, go up

(28:47):
the 16th on the sway bar or put around a wedge in the right rear.
It was really easy to relatewhat you needed, but now
it's a lot more scientific, Ithink, and it's a lot smaller.
Adjustments make a big change.
Talked a lot with ColinBrown's dad, Jeff, about hi.
His early involvement in dampertesting and those minor adjustments

(29:07):
that make a NASCAR car run betterand a sports car run better.
It's magic, it's complete science and ifyour butt can tell your engineers what
you need seems to be super important.
And you know, it strikes me thatthat is what has led teams to
say, yes, we would like you tocome along to perfect these cars.
Well, Dale Junior's, he was probablymy closest friend in nascar and I

(29:29):
remember, you know, I got a call, youknow, to go teach him road racing.
I showed up at Sonoma.
I walk up to the car early in the morning.
Tony and Tony are senior, are working onthe car, and I'm like, Hey, I'm Boris.
Said I'm here to help you test.
And, and it was kind oflike days of thunder.
They looked at me like I waspoisoned, cold as could be.
And I'm like, okay.
And I just backed up and I'mstanding around for about 45 minutes.

(29:51):
And it is early in the morning, likeeight o'clock or seven 30, and I'm like,
Hmm, doesn't seem like they want me here.
And then this engine guy came up fromuh, Childress and I was good friends with
him and I'm like, Hey man, we're talking.
I go, it doesn't seem likethey really want me there.
I go, where's Junior?
Anyway, I, I haven't even met him.
He goes, oh, he is probablyin the trailer sleeping.
Go in the holler and meet him.
And you know, I had thispreconceived notion that he's

(30:11):
gonna be this spoiled Brad.
I mean, he is Dale Earnhardt, SR'S kid.
He's got everything rightlike this in my head.
Sure enough, I open the doorto the lounge and walk in.
He is dead asleep and he wakes up.
Man, I was 180 degrees off.
He is the coolest dude.
And we just hit it off.
It was like we were brothers, you know,he is like my little brother right away.
Never had a little brother,but he would've been it.
So the test starts going and he's running.

(30:32):
He is running.
He is like, well, let'sput Boris in the car.
So I get in the car and, and goquite a bit faster than him, and
then I tell him their car's crap.
I go, here's what you need to do.
And they made some changes and it gotfaster, and now all of a sudden they're
like, oh, buddy, buddy, buddy, youwanna go to dinner with us tonight?
Hey, let's go to dinner.
You know, they wanna pull allthe information outta your brain.
And that started ourrelationship with Dale Junior.
You knew Dale Sr, too.

(30:53):
Yeah.
So Dale Sr. I mean, everyone always askedme about what's your best racing story?
And that's a Dale Sr story.
You know, one day we were all, there wasabout 15 cars tested at Watkins Glen.
And I was pretty fast.
I was in a car, Jimmy Spencer built,sponsored by Federated Auto Parts.
So this is after I've helped DaleJr. And you know, his dad, he would
always come up to me and he was theonly guy I've ever met that I was

(31:14):
starstruck that I would just lock up.
I couldn't say anything, youknow, he'd come up and he'd
squeeze my neck, you know?
He always called me, said, he goes,Hey, s said, man, my kid couldn't
stop talking about you, man.
Thanks for helping 'em out, man.
I owe you one.
I'm like, okay.
So that day he walks down tothe garage where we were and I'm
like, Dale's coming this way.
He goes, Hey, said man, come here.
Will you help me out?
I'm like, yeah.
So we start walking towards his car and heis got his hand on my neck squeezing it.

(31:37):
He always did that.
He goes, yeah, just run like crap, man.
This car's just saying,I don't think it's right.
I tell them boys, but I don't know.
I don't know what to tell him.
He goes, we drive my car,and I'm like, holy crap.
I'm gonna get to drivethe number three car.
That's unusual for him.
And at the time, I didn't know onlythree people in history ever drove that
number three car other than him, JeffGreen, Paul Newman, and Neil Bonnet.

(31:57):
That was it.
Why was Paul Newman in that car?
Because they were friends andhe took some laps at Daytona.
Okay?
So anyway, he goes, let'ssee if you fit in there.
And I get in there and I'm sitting,you know, my knees are in my chest,
and he sits leaning way back andkind of his hands on the door shut.
And he goes, man, s you don't fit.
Very good in there.
I think you can drive it.
And I go, I know one thing.
I feel like a bad motherfuckersitting in this thing.

(32:19):
This is the coolest thing ever.
He goes, can you drive it?
I go, I'll drive it on one condition.
I go, I know I'm the only race fanyou'll ever let drive your car.
I want to picture me driving this thing.
Oh my God, that's fantastic.
And he goes, ah, yeah, on.
So I go get my helmet on with my bigFord sticker, you know, right here.
And I pull out and I drive like three orfour laps and I come into the garages.
Were real small at Watkins Glen, andas I pull in, there must have been

(32:41):
30 people there taking pictures.
It was crazy.
And I was like thinking of thatold EF hunting commercial, you
know, where everyone just stoppedto listen to what he said.
Yeah.
And as he took the window net down,I was just horrified looking at
all these people and he is like,well, like a deer at the headlights.
I go, man, this thing's a piece of crap.
You drove my car, youwouldn't get in this thing.
Right?
He goes, come on, let's go.
So me, him and his crew chief,Kevin Hamlin, we go in the Hollerer.

(33:04):
Now we're sitting in theDale Senior's Hollerer, and
I give him this laundry list.
I go, the first thing is your brakes, man.
It's like pushing concrete.
You need a smaller mastercylinder to get a little travel.
He's like, man, I told them boysthat wore my leg out at Sears Point.
And they don't listen.
And I'm thinking in my head like,how do they not listen to him?
He is the freaking king.
So I give him this listof second and third gear.
I remember the front swaybar, the rear springs, and he

(33:26):
just told this guy, he goes.
Okay man, do it all.
I'll be here.
Call him when you're ready.
And so now it's just me and him sittingthere in the lounge looking at each other
and I'm sweating and I'm nervous and I'mlike, I am thinking something cool to say.
Think of something cool to say.
And airplane two, the movie was on thetv and I go, pretty funny movie, huh?
And he goes, yeah, I like that guy.
And he put his hand on the tableand he walked outta the lounge.
And I'm like, oh Jesus, that'sthe best you can come up with.

(33:47):
And I was just so nervous andall of a sudden he yells, he
goes, Hey, SED you hungry.
You want anything to eat?
And I was just like.
Make me a peanut butter and jelly andcut the crust off and hurri it up.
Just a joke and nothing, not a sound.
And I'm like, if there was a door in thefront of that lounge, I would've took off.
It seemed like an hour, butit was probably two minutes.
He walks in with a peanut butter andjelly on a paper towel and a water.

(34:09):
He goes, here you go, man.
And I'm like, Hey, youdidn't cut the crust off.
He goes, no, man, itmakes your hair curly.
I don't wanna ruin your look.
Did he make one for himself?
Yeah, he had one for himself too.
Oh, good.
And so we sat there and ate.
That was just the coolest thing ever.
Then I finally could talk to him.
I finally was like, at ease.
Let's look at some data.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was pretty neat.
That's really cool.
The, the variety of cars thatyou've done that in is insane.

(34:34):
I mean, we're talking abouttrucks, cop cars, sports cars,
the X Games in rally cars.
Like I want to hear alittle bit about that.
I never said no to anything.
You know, if it was front wheel,rear wheel, never tried it.
You know, I did the X Games, you know,that weekend I was doing the Xfinity
Race in Montreal, you know, and they weredoing a special test on like a dirt track.

(34:54):
And I was missing that.
So I literally, the firsttime I went to the X Games, I
literally got one lap of practice.
I literally left the Xfinity Racein Montreal, got in a helicopter,
flew to the airport, took a privateplane to Chicago to get a commercial
flight to LA just to make the X Games.
They go, don't worry, you'll haveplenty of practice in the morning.
I'm like, okay.
And, uh, sure enough, in themorning the track was delayed

(35:16):
getting built and blah, blah, blah.
And you know, so I did the X Games,but I literally got one lap of practice
and, and, uh, didn't do the best, but Ilost by like a quarter of a car length.
So I was bummed, but itwas a lot of fun to do.
It.
Did Travis or, uh, Travis helped a lot.
But if I bring a driver that's neverbeen to a track, I can tell him about the
track, but until he goes out and drivesit, it's like, teach him Greek, you know?

(35:39):
But once he drives it, I can say,okay, now in that corner, you know,
if you turn in earlier, he'll get it.
So that's how it was tough atthe X Games to talk to Travis.
'cause he helped me a lot there andjust say like, how do I do this?
And he kind of told me I did myone lap and I'm like, oh boy,
it's gonna be tough in the race.
But it was still, it was a blast to do it.
Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know how you choose betweenSonoma and Daytona and the ring.

(36:01):
And if you have a favorite,I'd love to hear about it.
I have multiple favorites.
I mean, the ring by far is my favorite.
To be the first American towin, there was a big feather.
And you know, I'm a big World War IIbuff to be standing on the, I remember,
I remember this so distinctly standing onthe podium when we won and thinking, you
know, 50 years earlier, Adolf Hitler, he'dbe rolling over in his grave right now.

(36:23):
If you saw some Paul kid from Californiawith an Afro winning on his track.
'cause it was just by the Arden forcewhere the Battle of the Bulge was fought.
That to me was one of the highlights.
And then, you know, second wasjust competing in Daytona 500
as where I started, you know,driving my car to the track.
I just never, ever thought I would getthere, and I think every time I lined

(36:43):
up for a race there, I would just sitthere and think like, man, only 43
people get to do this in the world.
It was one of the most funexperiences you could ever think of.
Even though people say Drafting'sboring, that place was a little
crazy and it was a lot of fun.
Getting back to, uh, therivalries that you had, you have a
reputation for not taking any crap.
We all get more mellow as we age, but Iwant to hear about how the whole biffle

(37:08):
thing has played out over the years.
Oh, man.
Do you still want to giveGreg Biffle a black eye?
No.
So, I mean, I did a lot of trainingwith Greg Biffle, you know, 'cause
I did a lot of stuff with Roush andthat day he made me super mad and
he remembers the story different.
I remember the story different, so maybethe truth lies in between, but we were mad

(37:29):
at each other probably for three years.
I'll never forget it.
We're at the, I was at the SEMA showand I saw him with a girl and the girl,
I saw the girl say, Boris is here.
Then he came and we started talking,and now we're really good friends again.
You know, we went on some off-roadingtrips together in razors at the desert.
He was a good guy.
Just racing gets emotional.
I was always a very emotional racer.

(37:50):
And so was he.
And that day our emotions crossed,you probably know Mike Skeen.
Oh yeah.
His girlfriend, Kelly Hefe slappedMax Papas after That's the truck race.
And, and when Max took him out, and Kellyand Mike and I are really good friends
and I. She got famous from this, right?
It was a shame, but it wound upbeing pretty funny 'cause they wound

(38:11):
up on an airplane together, oneseat away from each other, right?
Kelly and Mico.
That's Max.
Should we make friends?
And they decided that they should.
Which was the right move I guess.
So my situation with Greg Biffle, whathappened was when I got interviewed
after I had my son who was probably sick.
Six or seven at the time, standingnext to me, I'm holding his

(38:31):
hand, but he is not in camera.
I didn't wanna just start swearingand bleeping in front of him.
So my interview was this most ridiculous,funny thing, 'cause I'm using all
these words like wampum and, andso the interview played everywhere.
I had no idea how it, it went that viral.
I mean, when I got to Australiathat year to race, that's all
they wanted to talk about.
Greg Biffle.
Gotcha.
Greg Biffle.
And so it was funny, but insaying that about Mike Skiing.

(38:54):
That to me is a tragic story.
That's the hardest thing about racingis unlike other sports like golf,
tennis, baseball, if you're goodenough, you get your shot right.
I think Mike skiing is themost underrated, fast guy ever.
I mean, that guy can get in anythingand drive it, and his style is like the
smoothest glass, how he is on the car and.

(39:15):
I like feel for that guy becauselike I know he's better than I am.
He just for some reason,didn't get the right brakes.
I mean, that guy should be in a NASCARor he is too tall for an Indy car, or he
should be in a factory ride somewhere.
I mean, the guy still to thisday is fast as lightning.
Oh, he's amazing.
And he is the nicest guy.
He is just quiet, you know, and he just,man, I wish the guy would exer himself

(39:35):
more because he's a hell of a racer.
He really is.
I would like to ask you about.
Characters in nascar.
I think NASCAR has gotten sortof mellowed out by like the
commercialism and all that.
And you know, it used to be the, the, youknow, the guys who were running moonshine
and you were a character in nascar.
Here we have this Cletus McFarland guycoming into ARCA and shaken things up.

(39:58):
I think NASCAR is recognizingit from my perspective.
It's really fun.
A hundred percent agree.
I think NASCAR has become way too vanilla.
You know, all these young guys, Imean, granted, they're talented,
but they're boring back in the day,I mean, you had Dale Earnhardt Sr.
And Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin,and they all had these personalities,
you know, that were entertaining.
And now, you know, the most entertainingguy is Kyle Busch, because you, wow.

(40:21):
I wanna hear what he has to say.
It's gonna be big.
But he's even mellowed outnow in, in his old age.
Right.
You know, it's still great racing.
I miss the characters andmaybe just 'cause I'm old
school, you know, I'm 62 now.
May it could be that too.
There's really good driversnow and they're all young.
But I, I agree with you.
I think guys like him are gonna have a bigcareer just because he is entertaining.

(40:41):
I. Cletus and Biffle are verytight, which is fun to watch.
And then he's got, is itHarvick as his spotter?
Ooh, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure either.
But there's a lot of guys that havemoved between NASCAR and the road
courses and stuff like that and Smokeand Dale Jr. And you know, Dale gets
out at Talladega to give Cletus.

(41:02):
Some coaching in a streetcar,and it's fun to watch and the
YouTube videos are off the charts.
I think that's what NASCAR is missing.
But I, I thought Dale EarnhardtJr. I mean, after knowing him all
these years, that's why he wasalways the most popular driver.
Kind of similar to Chase Elliot today.
I mean, he's the same kind of character,you know, really, really good guy.

(41:23):
Top-notch.
'cause he was so genuine.
Even if his name wasn't Dale EarnhardtJr. He would've still been that guy.
He's just such a cool dude.
Everything he says is genuine.
There's nothing made up with him.
If he thinks that, he says it,you know, I was always genuine.
I said what I thought a lot of timespeople did not like it, and maybe I
should have shut my mouth just the way Iam and I can't change Too old to change.
I've been thinking about this.

(41:44):
With all of your expertise and variousdisciplines and all the time you spent in
nascar, what was it like for you seeingthe Garage 56 car at Lama two years ago?
Oh, I thought that wasthe coolest thing ever.
It was just awesome.
And then to see him win the pitstop competition was, I thought, one
of the highlights of the weekend.
And you know, everybody thought that carwas gonna be the slowest car in the field.

(42:04):
And they ended up being fasterthan all the GT three cars.
So I thought it was, thatwas a big win for Chevrolet.
And I saw all the work thatHendrick Motorsports put into it.
Chad Canal and his wholeteam, and it was pretty neat.
I mean, I'm a partner of Rick Hendricksand I, I'll call him a friend because
he's definitely my mentor in thecar business and we talk a lot.
I think they put a lot ofeffort into it and showed.
You know, Hendrick Motorsports, you know,the organization is just ridiculous.

(42:27):
It's top shelf.
That's the pinnacle ofmotorsports, I think.
You think that car was a oneand done or are we gonna see
more of that kind of racing?
Uh, that's a one.
And, and done.
That's the museum piece.
Now you're not done.
You started the Go-Kart franchise,but you were hanging up your
old suits on the walls of these.
Go-kart tracks.
Well, my wife was so mad because I usedto keep one suit from every car I raced.

(42:50):
And I probably had like 400 suits inthe house, all stacked everywhere,
you know, and all these things.
And they opened this indoorgo-kart track by us in Carlsbad.
I saw the sign and it was off inthis industrial park way in the back.
I go, nobody's ever gonna go there.
They're never gonna find this place.
And I went in there and met the guy.
It was a French guy named David Denard.
His girlfriend at the time, and webecame friends and they couldn't

(43:12):
get the use permit, so I helped himwith all the businesses in the area.
They had to, you know, writeletters of support and they ended
up opening and I go, man, thisplace is never gonna make it.
So, you know, they go,Hey, can we get some suits?
So I'd hang up some suits there and somememorabilia and an old race car went
in there and, and the place just rocks.
It was packed all the time.
I became a partner in the second store.
Just for the benefit of our listenerswho have probably been Googling

(43:34):
this for the last couple of minutes.
Boris helped put K one speed.
That's right, folks.
K one speed.
Indoor go-kart trackson the map back in 2003.
So if you've ever been to one, youcan say I've been to Boris's place.
I didn't do much with the business,but you know, they grew it from, you
know, one store to two stores to threestores and before long they had 60 of
these things and, and then I didn'thave any more suits in the house, so

(43:56):
my wife was really happy about that.
Yeah.
So it was a good place tothrow all my memorabilia.
But then one day you got acall from Corvette Racing and,
and they said, jump in a car.
Like always.
I think I have a Corvettesuit hanging in a go-kart.
No, it was Lou gel, it wasa private tier Corvette.
And he goes, Hey, do youwanna do Long Beach with me?
I'm like, yeah, sure.
And then I go, Hey y'all,you wanna take the team?
Go-karting.

(44:17):
And we have a a go-kart track in Torrance.
Oh yeah, that'd be great.
So the night before practice.
They're all go-karting, and thecrew chief goes, Hey, do you got
a suit with the right patches?
And I'm like, ah, IM za.
I'm like, shoot.
Oh yeah, there's a Corvette suit onthe wall there that I was supposed
to use with Dale Jr. But he caughton fire and I never used it.
So I pulled that suit off thewall, and then two days later,
it was in the same condition thatDale Earnhardt Jr's suit was.

(44:39):
'cause you know I had a big fire.
That was a weird coincidence.
I have always regarded cartingas the place to start off.
Young road racers.
Do you think that's still the goal?
Or would you go down, like youmentioned before with your son?
I put him in a Miataand we just went for it.
I think go-karting is the placeto start, especially K one speed.
You can start there verycheap and start indoor.
And then now K one has two outdoor tracks.

(45:01):
One of the best circuitsin North America by far.
A Go-Karting facility, you know, outhere in in Winchester, California.
But I mean, look at.
Kids like Connor Village and Brett Cruz,you know, they all came from Go-Karting.
You know, you look at Formula Oneright now, you know Kimmy Antonelli
and all these young hot shots.
I mean, they're all go-karts.
So it's definitely the place tostart, if you can start that early.

(45:22):
I never started go-kartinguntil I became a car racer.
I never did anything likethat when I was a kid.
But I, I think it'sdefinitely the place to start.
I've only ever had one racingbudget and my kid goes to the
go-kart track as often as possibleand gets fast time of the week.
I just pretend that that didn't happenbecause I only have one racing budget.
But what's next?

(45:42):
I mean maybe some GT three stuff.
In SROI have a team thatwould love to welcome you.
Well, I mean, it's good nowbecause I'm a bronze driver.
That's kind of perfect.
Yeah.
It, it works into thisstrategy and I, I like it.
I like doing TransAm.
I'm gonna do a few moreTransAm races this year.
I'm working on building a, a race trackin Southern California right now and start

(46:03):
like a country club track very close tola so it would be definitely different.
That's the big projectI'm working on right now.
I just invited you to come drivefor an S-R-O-M-S-A team that I do
not own, but that I sort of manage.
I don't know whether that invite, I canexecute on it, but I do own a lemons team.
And if you were ever interested indriving in the 24 hours of lemons,

(46:26):
I have a shitty old BMW that I couldcompletely put you behind the wheel of.
And I've done it with other famousolder race car drivers, including
Randy Lanier, who Eric and Iinterviewed, and the invitation is open.
I would do that for sure.
SRO don't need any money anymore to race.
I just do it for the love of the game now.
But yeah, I still go.
All right.

(46:46):
For a bronze guy, I would love tosee a rematch between Boris and Andy.
And we talked a lot about the past andnow Mike has brought us into the future,
but there's one thing that we sort ofleft on the table from your origin story.
You said you wanted tobuy a Formula One car.
Did you ever do any open wheel racing?
Did you ever get a chance tosit in a Formula One car or even
an Indy car and run some laps?
Let's assume that he bought one.

(47:08):
I wasn't gonna ask.
No, I never bought one in racing,driving other people's stuff's a lot
more fun, so I never owned any race cars.
I agree completely.
Yeah.
But one time I was doing WorldChallenge in uh, probably 1990 at
Des Moines Super V was racing there.
S-S-E-C-A Super V Racing, thePro Series, and I was walking
through looking at the cars.
Some guy stopped me and he was a NewZealander guy, and Ken Marillo ran for

(47:31):
him and he goes, how come you nevertried any open wheel cars, Barris?
And I'm like, oh, no one's ever asked.
He goes, well, you come outand test my car sometime.
I'm like, when?
And I remember, you know, I kept buggingthe guy and I went to Willow Springs.
You know, I was living inConnecticut at the time.
He tested me in a Super V andit was Chad McQueen's car.
Steve's son.
Yeah.
I, I ended up being really fastand he goes, okay, I'm gonna sign
you as my driver for next year.

(47:51):
And I thought, well, I got a ride.
Sure enough, a month before theseason, he goes, I'm sorry man, I
gotta take somebody that's paying.
And I'm like, okay.
So that was the only time in a, in anopen wheel car, but I didn't really fit.
You know, open wheel and evenrunning the prototype cars the
little as I did a few years, I wastoo tall on the legs for those cars.
It was just hard to becomfortable in them.
It's a real shame themore I think about it.

(48:11):
They did the wrong castingcall for the US top gear.
I think Boris should have been on the UStop gear and that show would've survived.
I tried out for it, actually.
I didn't get it, but I did try out for it.
Yep.
That's awesome.
That's crazy.
'cause a couple of the rally guysthat I'm friends with Got it.
Whatever.
Like Tanner.
Yeah, Tanner.
Yeah.
Uh, it's frustrating.
You mentioned earlier, we've hit on ita couple times, you're now racing with

(48:33):
your son who, like you kind of had tobe brought into racing a little bit.
So that means the said legacylives on in Motorsport.
What's the family goal there?
I mean, obviously you arestill turning laps as well.
What's the plan for your son andmaybe grandson, future generations?
Let's not talk about a grandson just yet.
Big fella.
But, uh, so he, uh, even though he,he is going out with Dave Jones's

(48:54):
daughter, which is pretty neat.
She's super nice girl.
Carrera Jones.
He loves it, but my sonhas his own business.
He is more successful than Iam and he is doing really well.
And I think he's torn right now.
Between his 70 hours a week,you know that he works.
Is it working or bracing?
And right now he's doing both.
But I. I love doing the racingwith him 'cause we do it together

(49:15):
and you know, we're best buddies.
But I'm not sure if that'll be his career.
I think business is gonna behis career and I'm super proud
of what he's done in that.
I mean, it's, he's 21 years old andit's amazing what he is accomplished.
Well, Boris, we have reached that partof the episode where I like to invite
our guests to share any shout outs,thank yous, promotions, or anything
else that we haven't covered thus far.
Uh, no, I'm good.

(49:36):
Thanks.
After 39 years of racing, I just.
Still love it.
So I like being aroundit, like talking about it.
It was a hell of a ride for me.
You don't have a website whereyou're selling t-shirts or something?
No, I've never had any of that stuff.
Okay, cool.
If any of your fans need A BMW,they can come to BMW Murrieta.
How about that?
I need one.
I would like an M three 40.
I. That's a great bar.

(49:56):
For something less than 80 grand.
It is less than 80 grand.
Well then we're in luck.
I'll be out.
Okay.
Alright.
No problem.
Well, folks, that brings us to thecheckered flag on this episode,
and it's been an absolute ride.
Talking about the legendary career ofBoris said, a driver who's raced it
all, one big and never back down from achallenge from road courses to stock cars.

(50:18):
Boris has left his mark on every track.
He's touched and his passionfor racing continues to
inspire fans and drivers alike.
If you wanna keep up with Borisand all the cool things, he's
still up to on and off the track.
You can follow him on Instagramand Twitter at Boris said.
So whether it's racing, mentoring, ormaking appearances at events around
the country, Boris is still verymuch part of the motorsports world.

(50:39):
Great talking to you, man.
All right.
Take care.
We hope you enjoyed another awesomeepisode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
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(50:59):
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