He Takes Latest Fork in the Road to L.A.

By SHAV GLICK

July 16, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Last Sunday, Boris Said was racing at 180 mph in a BMW sports car through the forests of Germany in a chilly rain at the legendary Nurburgring circuit.

Today, Said will be driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo stock car at speeds up to 90 mph through the parking lots and roads of Exposition Park in the main event of the L.A. Street Race.

“It’s like playing golf in the morning and tennis in the afternoon,” the 6-foot-4 road-racing veteran from Carlsbad said of the disparate events.

Said, 37, one of road racing’s most versatile drivers, also coaches Winston Cup drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeremy Mayfield and Steve Park on the nuances of driving on twisting road courses.

“I’ve been racing 12 years and I always get in whatever I can get a ride in,” he said. “My main goal is to get into Winston Cup, but in the meantime, I’m driving for BMW in the LeMans series.

“I like them all, the BMW, the Monte Carlo, Trans-Am, the Craftsman trucks, whatever I’m in. They’re all different; each one has its own personality. I’m looking forward to racing in the L.A. race again. I got second two years ago. It was one of the best street courses I ever ran.”

The course over which Said chased winner Steve Portenga--beating such veterans as Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Ron Hornaday Jr.--in the 1998 Featherlite Southwest series race is no more, however. That original course was dropped because of complaints from museum visitors and officials that the race hampered access to their facilities.

Today’s one-mile circuit runs along Figueroa Street and circles the Sports Arena, with most of the action in a series of switchbacks on the south parking lot.

Said qualified fifth at 68.911 mph as Greg Pursley of Newhall won the pole in a Chevrolet for the third consecutive year with a lap of 70.388 mph over the eight-turn course.

Said, sharing a 2001 model BMW M3 with Hans Stuck of Austria and Johannes van Overbeek of Danville, Calif., started seventh and finished sixth last week in the 5-hour 45-minute Nurburgring race.

“I had a good time driving around in the rain, but it’s too bad the windshield wiper stopped working,” he said. The wiper malfunctioned for 20 laps of the 2.8-mile course. “It was a little hard to see out the front, especially when the prototype cars went by.”

Next Sunday, Said will be back in the BMW for an American LeMans series race at Sears Point Raceway. He has done well on the Sonoma valley road course, winning a truck race there in 1998 and sharing a win with Stuck in a GT race last year.

“One thing I like about running the BMW is that it takes me to a lot of places,” Said said. “We run all over, in England, Australia, Germany, South America, as well as over here. Of course, I’d rather get a stock car program going. I thought I had it going in the truck series, but in racing, you never know.”

Said had a second-place finish at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan., last year in a Craftsman truck, but was left in racing limbo when team owner Ernie Irvan leased all his assets to Robby Gordon for a Winston Cup effort.

“I loved that [truck] series. It was one of the best I’ve ever been in,” Said said. “But when the team was disbanded, I had to look around. This L.A. race fit perfectly in my schedule, on an off week. When [car owner] Tom Fry gave me an opportunity to run, I jumped at it. It’s not only closer to home, but the weather is a lot nicer than Germany.

“I like running in the Southwest series. It’s very competitive and getting stronger all the time. I drove for Tom last month at Sears Point and finished third. We were running second until the motor went away.”

Said’s Chevrolet looked as if it belonged in a junkyard at the finish of that race. Part of the left front fender was gone and duct tape held the rest of the body panels in place.

He will be in the same car, extensively repaired, today. Pursley put it on the pole last year when Said missed the L.A. race.

“I guess we’ll have a lot of bumping this week too,” Said said. “It’s pretty tight most of the way around. It’ll be a lot of fun, though.”

When he’s not racing, Said is likely to be on a golf course. A 9-handicap golfer at La Costa, he is a soul mate of touring pro Mark O’Meara. He took O’Meara to the Sebring track in Florida and gave him tips on handling his Porsche Turbo. In exchange, the former Masters and British Open champion gave Said tips on the driving range.

“I think I helped him more with his driving than he did me,” Said said. “One thing I noticed, though, was that he made minute adjustments on the driving range, just like we do it when we’re tuning up our cars. The similarities in preparation between golf and racing are amazing.

“So are our attitudes. Where Mark is thinking of the little things in his swing, all I’m thinking about is hitting the ball. And where I’m thinking of little things in the car, all Mark is thinking about is staying on the track.”

Street Race Notes

Parnelli Jones, who will serve as grand marshal of today’s events, almost missed his other chore--driving one of Gary Campbell’s ultra wheel spec trucks in a support race. On the first lap of a practice session Saturday morning, Jones came flying around a sweeping corner heading toward the Coliseum only to find a truck blocking his way. “There was nowhere to go, it was a blind corner, and he was right on my line,” Jones said. “It was really disappointing. The same guy crashed yesterday in the same place, but I’ll still be able to start the race.” Campbell’s crew was unable to repair the truck in time for qualifying, so Jones--the 1963 Indy 500 winner--will start at the rear of the field in today’s 45-minute race. Not so fortunate was Jon Campbell, Gary’s son, who crashed the other team truck and will be unable to start. Parts of his truck were used to repair the one Jones crashed. Nathan Wulff of Escondido was the fastest spec-truck qualifier, with a 64.12-mph lap on the eight-turn mile. . . . Races will also be held for North-South road course spec trucks, PRO Racing cars and vintage Cobras, starting at 9:15 a.m.

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NASCAR COURSE

The one-mile course passes the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and circles the Los Angeles Sports Arena close to three popular museums in Exposition Park.

The following streets will be closed until 6 a.m. Monday.:

Figueroa Street between 39th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Hoover Street between N. Coliseum Drive and Martin Luther King.

S. Coliseum Driver between Hoover and 39th.

Parking is available in several lots along Menlo Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Martin Luther King Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard.

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L.A. Street Race

* What: NASCAR Featherlite Southwest series and supporting races.

* Where: Exposition Park, one-mile circuit around Sports Arena.

* When: Today--vintage Cobras, 9:15 a.m.; PRO Racing, 9:45 a.m.; North-South road course spec trucks, 11:15 a.m.; ultra wheels spec trucks, 1:30 p.m.; Featherlite Southwest series race, 125 laps, 3:15 p.m.

* TV: 3 p.m., Channel 4.

* Purse: $166,750.

* Tickets: General admission, $20; children, $10; reserved grandstands, $35, children, $15.

* Defending champion: A.J. Alsup.

SOUTHWEST SERIES STANDINGS

Featherlite Southwest series point totals after nine of 19 races:

1. Matt Crafton, Tulare, Ford1,356

2. Doug McCoun, Prunedale, Chevrolet1,245

3. Auggie Vidovich, Lakeside, Chevrolet1,226

4. Sean Woodside, Saugus, Pontiac1,217

5. M.K. Kanke, Granada Hills, Pontiac1,158

6. Greg Pursley, Newhall, Chevrolet1,151