Let it be Said: This should bea lot of fun to watch

I don't know about you, but I like a lot of what Boris Said brings to the stock-car racing table.

Said, at 42, is a longtime road racer who for a long time has lusted after a Cup ride. His credentials in the sports car world are impossible to argue with and he's performed admirably in the handful of the NASCAR races he's made. His realistic expectations entering the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, which Said delivers with a hearty dose of self-efacing humor, are refreshing.

Heck, it's refreshing, fun and way too rare to find a Cup driver any more who hasn't had the humor programmed right out of him by NASCAR and the various other handlers.

Said is expected to drive at  least 10 Cup races for MB/Sutton Motorsports in 2005, in the No. 36 CENTRIX Financial Chevrolet.

How big is it to be taking a shot at the Daytona 500?

"For me it will be the biggest racing accomplishment if I can qualify and finish the Daytona 500," Said said. (You knew that was coming, didn't you? Still, we'll endeavor to use "the driver said" or "he said" from here on out.)

When a driver who's won some of Europe's biggest sports car races and Trans-Am titles says qualifying and finishing a race are his biggest hopes, it gets your attention. And it says a lot about the pressure-cooker that Cup racing has become.

"When I first started to race, I competed in my personal car with duct-tape numbers. I've come a long way and it's a thrilling time for Boris Said."

I did that duct-tape number thing once, too. And you know what? My car didn't run a danged bit better after I pulled the tape off painted the numbers on the doors.

Said ran in the Budweiser Shootout last year, which he believes will help on this trip to Florida.

"The first 20 laps I was scared to death. By the end of the race, I loved it," he said.

"Drafting is like playing chess in the middle of a mine field with people shooting at you. There's chaos all around you. You need to stay calm and think clearly. It's exciting and awesome, but at the same time it demands a lot of concentration."

His primary goals for the 2005 Cup season are to win a road race and be competitive on the ovals. Top-20 finishes, he said, would be perfectly acceptable.

"Once I obtain those goals I will reset them. I want to belong here and if I can achieve these goals early then I will be on the right path."

Paraphrasing the quote for which Popeye is perhaps best-known, Said will tell you in  a second, "I am who I am."

"Sometimes I slip, say the wrong thing and get into trouble. But I don’t mean any harm. I like to get along with everybody. It’s more fun that way."

For fun, Said enjoys playing golf when he's not testing, competing or otherwise busy with racing. And he carries a 6 handicap, which suggests to me that he's carrying around a lot of natual ability, too, and plays a lot.

He keeps pretty good company, too, on some of his rounds.

"I got to know Mark O’Mera and Stuart Appleby, and through Mark, I got to meet Tiger (Woods). I even played a few holes with Mark and Tiger. Great people to be around - a lot of fun."

There's that word again - fun.

I think it will be a lot of fun to watch him race this season. And when he wins, it'll be a lot of fun trying to avoid that Said said / said Said thing when we all get to write about it.