Exactly twenty years ago – at this writing – Dale Earnhardt was getting a gleeful taste of endurance road racing at a track he knew well: Daytona International Speedway. Sharing a GM factory team Corvette with fellow drivers Andy Pilgrim, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelly Collins, TV audiences were treated to Earnhardt’s in-cockpit radio kibitzing with his crew chief while roaring through the night in his first-ever 24-hour race on Daytona’s road course, a new experience for Dale Earnhardt in a familiar setting. He was the biggest name in Stock Car racing, yet a mere neophyte to endurance road racing. But it was easy for viewers to see that he was pedal-to-metal and having a helluva good time!
In that same race was a veteran sports car and Trans Am road racer, Boris Said, who – coincidentally – was bucking to become a NASCAR Stock Car racer. Boris, in fact, had been developing a reputation among NASCAR drivers as the go-to guy for learning key techniques and tricks for road racing, increasingly important to Stock Car drivers due to the road courses that had been added to the annual NASCAR race series roster. Boris Said was a champion Trans Am driver and a winning road racer in several top-tier venues, well known to the racing public and noticed by NASCAR drivers who needed to improve on road racing skills such as heel-toe, left-foot-throttle-on braking, clutchless speed shifting, threshold braking for low-speed corner-entry and the like.
But Dale Earnhardt, one Stock Car driver who didn’t need road racing lessons from a hot shoe whippersnapper like Boris Said, was aware of Boris’ reputation when the two men had a chance encounter at a track lunch table, during an event prior to the 2001 Daytona 24-hour. Earnhardt, by then a NASCAR legend, was dominantly fast on ovals and as fast as any full-time road racer on road courses. Boris Said, although recognized among road racers and Stock Car racers alike, could only wish that he might some day command the respect and stature of “The King,” Dale Earnhardt.
“A race buddy of mine and I were sitting at this crummy table and we needed something to eat,” Boris remembers, “when up walks Dale Earnhardt himself and sits down across from us.” Boris describes how his heart skipped a beat from suddenly being in the presence of THE Stock Car racer of all Stock Car racers: “I heard my buddy introduce us; ‘Dale this is Boris, Boris this is Dale,’ but everything else is a little foggy, because I was just trying not to appear overly impressed or nervous.” Boris Said, who was scheduled to be on the grid with Dale in a short while, didn’t want to appear intimidated during handshake introductions and the unspoken nuances of racers taking each other’s measure. Dale, on the other hand, was quietly curious about Boris, due to his knowledge that Boris Said was that guy who was teaching his arch competitors the very road racing skills that gave him an edge in any NASCAR road racing field. And while Boris was in a “one-off” drive in the current NASCAR race, thus not a threat to Dale, Earnhardt was paying attention. He always paid attention.
“I’m gonna go get a burger, you guys want anything,” he offered. Boris responded; “yeah, I’d like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich – with the crusts cut off.” As Boris relates; “I was pretty sure they didn’t have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the menu, but I just wanted to be a kinda difficult, I guess, not wanting to seem like an easy mark.” Earnhardt, turning to walk away, shot back with a glance; “well I’m not sure they have anything that fancy at this place.” Boris knew they didn’t.
Returning a few minutes later with lunch orders in hand, Dale Earnhardt slid a paper plate over to Boris Said with the quip: “there’s your peanut butter and jelly sandwich Bud,” you can cut the crusts off yourself.” Both racers smiled.
Little did Boris Said know at the time that Dale Earnhardt would finish ahead of him in the then-upcoming 2001 Daytona 24-hour race — and it would have been impossible to imagine the loss of Dale Earnhardt due to a crash on the last turn of the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, just a short time away. But the mutual regard between an upstart NASCAR new-kid-on-the-block and an all-time NASCAR legend was permanently fused, and the untimely passing of Dale Earnhardt remains a sober etching for Boris Said and all of motor sport.
