Q. The DP field seems to dwindle as each year goes by. And I'm wondering whether that's just the effects of the economy or whether there's something else going on there. What are your thoughts on that?
BORIS SAID: I think it's the effects of the economy. Everywhere in America everything is shrinking, whether you go to any sporting event, any race series right now. Corporate America's struggling. So hopefully, this year being an election year and hopefully we'll get some new government in there that can do its job. I'm sure America is going to come back sooner rather than later and when it does, racing will come back, Grand-Am will come back.
You look at the lower ranks of Grand-Am and Continental Challenge, we have 70 cars every weekend. And that's a great series. So as you get up to the higher levels it costs more money and money is scarce. So I think Grand-Am's done an unbelievable job making equal cars that are affordable and having good racing compared to some of the other road race series, America Le Mans where you go there and they have three P1 cars, that's not a race. That's testing with champagne at the end of the day.
So I think Grand-Am has a really good formula, and I think once the economy comes back it's going to thrive even more.
Q. Whenever I have NASCAR fans complain to me about how they don't like the racing because the cars all look the same, and it's like IROC and they long for the good old days when they had stock cars. I always tell them if that's the kind of racing they like, if they really like stock cars they ought this check out the Continental Tire Series and most of them have never heard of it. Do you think it would be good for Grand-Am and for NASCAR in general to promote that series as a more of a true stock car series?
BORIS SAID: I'm not really sure on the business of it. But if that series was brought in front of the masses, I mean, it's exciting. You're going to see cars that you can identify with, because they're pretty much street cars. You're going to see aggressive driving. You're going to see a lot of crashes and a lot of passing.
So it's an exciting series. And I think it's one of the best kept secrets in racing. A lot of guys you've never heard of. Young up-and-coming Americans trying to make a name for themselves in road racing and there's a lot of talent in the Continental Challenge Series. I think Grand-Am has a pretty good ladder system to make it in auto racing right now.
But, yeah, I think it would be cool if the Continental Challenge Series could run at Watkins Glen on a Cup weekend. Logistically it's a problem because there's so many cars, but that's what I would like to see.
Q. Staying with the Continental theme for a second, BMW has had a lot of success the last couple of years, but this year they've been pegged back a little bit by Grand-Am. So much so even some of the teams have gone to a different brand. Is that a concern for you and the Turner guys, or is it a little fun you guys are having before you get back to it?
BORIS SAID: Grand-Am is a tough job when you have so many different kinds of cars, different makes, to try to make them all equal. Somebody's always going to be whining and crying.
BMW can't win every year. And they've been dominant the last couple of years. Mostly because I think just the quality of the teams and the drivers that are in them. But I think it will all come around. I mean, right now it looks like Porsche has a little advantage. Some tracks it won't. But Grand-Am's good about making adjustments and getting it equal. So they're not too quick to react.
They don't make knee-jerk decisions, but they'll always do the right thing and they're always trying to make it like NASCAR where everyone has a equal playing field. We're not too concerned about it. We'll whine about it like everybody else. But I'm sure it will get better as the year goes on.
Q. With rain in the forecast this weekend and three races in the next few weeks, how much is that a concern from the cockpit side to make sure you don't tear up the cars because of the natural wear and tear that's going to go through on the cars and the crew as well over this month of June?
BORIS SAID: As a driver, you can't really think about it. You have to think of each race as the last race you'll ever run. We've got to think about the best job we can do to try to get the best finish we can. And worrying about crashing isn't one of them.
Being patient on the street course is definitely a concern, because in my history of street racing, there's always a lot of cautions. There's always a lot of carnage, and Ernie Irvan told me you need to race the racetrack and you need to be there at the end and I don't think there's a truer statement for a street course. So we'll watch our Ps and Qs but at the end of the race we're going to run it like it's the last time we're ever going to get to drive a car.
Q. How competitive do you expect Whelen's Corvette that you co-drive with Eric Curran this weekend, given the state of the GT class with Ferrari coming in with two straight victories?
BORIS SAID: Yeah, I look at that Ferrari and I think it's one of the best-looking cars ever going down pit lane. When I look at how expensive it is, it should be faster. I think they probably have an advantage right now, but they're new to the series, just like the Continental Challenge I'm sure that Grand-Am will probably have some adjustments to that car if they keep winning races.
But in saying that, I think our Whelen Corvette has been pretty competitive at every racetrack. We've had some problems, some our own doing and some just bad luck, I think -- I expect to be competitive at Detroit.