Road Course “Ringers” Return To Challenge NASCAR Stars
Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that three more champion drivers, Boris Said, Ron Fellows, and Dorsey Schroeder have entered the “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine” at Virginia International Raceway September 22. All three scored significant race wins and championships in their careers but were also highly acclaimed as road racing “ringers” in NASCAR competition as teams seeking an advantage on road courses secured their services.
“Boris, Ron, and Dorsey are tremendous road racing talents and their records speak for themselves,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Those were exciting days when the NASCAR teams signed on road racing ‘ringers’ to get the upper hand. We have three of the best in the business right here.”
Fellows built an exceptional career in auto racing both at the wheel and on the business side with ventures such as the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park among others. He is one of Trans Am’s most prolific winners with 20 overall victories, including his latest coming in 2014 after an 18-year hiatus. During a driving career that dates back to the early 1980’s, he amassed an amazing record of championships and victories across a dazzling array of disciplines. His major accomplishments include 25 ALMS wins where he also won three consecutive GTS class driver’s championships. He was the overall winner in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2001 and brought home two first-place GTS class trophies at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001 and 2002. Fellows competed in all three of NASCAR’s top series, Cup, Nationwide (now Xfinity), and Trucks. He was particularly successful in Nationwide where he picked off four victories to go along with eight other top-five finishes. In the truck series, he scored two wins and two thirds in just 15 races.
Boris Said amassed myriad accomplishments beginning at the onset of his career when he won SCCA Rookie-of-the-Year in 1987. He was national runoffs champion three times, in 1989, ’90, and ’91. It wasn’t long before he asserted his prominence in sports car racing with GT class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1997 and 1998, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring also in 1998. In 2004 he was crowned the Rolex Sports Car Series GT champion and followed that up by becoming the first American to score a 24 Hours of Nurburgring victory in 2005. His prowess as a road racer attracted the attention of NASCAR teams and by 1995 he began racing in the Truck series where he scored a victory at Sonoma in 1998. He raced in all three major NASCAR series, scoring eight top-tens and two poles in Cup competition, a win in the 2010 Montreal round of the Xfinity series, along with nine top tens and three poles in Trucks, to go along with his Sonoma win. A versatile talent, Said has also competed in the Australian V8 Supercar series and even the X Games in 2007 and 2015.
Dorsey Schroeder is another accomplished road racer with NASCAR credentials in both Cup and Trucks. He was Trans Am champion in his rookie year in 1989 with six race wins. One of the drivers to beat in 1990s, he accumulated 11 more Trans Am victories for a career total of 17, ranking him among the sport’s elite in history. In 1990 he focused on the IMSA GT Championship and became GTO class champion with three wins. All that success earned him an invitation to compete in the exclusive IROC series in 1990 and 1991. Schroeder’s mastery was apparent from the beginning of his career when in 1971 at age 19 he became the first driver under 21 to be awarded an SCCA national license. After wrapping up his driving career he served for several years as a TV motorsports analyst for top-level professional American sports car racing. Until recently he was Race Director for the Pirelli World Challenge Series and currently serves as Chief Steward for the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli.
In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.
The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur. Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Mike Skinner, Wally Dallenbach Jr., Ward Burton and his son Jeb are among the professionals on the entry list.