SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Two NASCAR veterans well known for road racing accomplishments – Wally Dallenbach Jr. and Boris Said – have filed entries for the SVRA Vintage Race of Champions Charity Pro-Am at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The VROC Pro-Am race, coming this Saturday, is part of the sixth SVRA Brickyard Invitational.
“Wally and Boris are great friends to SVRA,” said SVRA President and CEO Tony Parella. “Look for them to run up front. Boris was the overall winner at our charity pro-am last September at Virginia International Raceway (VIR).”
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 Rolex 24 in 1997 and ’98, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring, also in ’98.
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-10s and two poles in Cup competition, a win in the 2010 Montreal round of the Xfinity series, along with nine top 10s 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.
Dallenbach launched his professional racing career in the Trans-Am series in 1984. He was immediately successful, winning the Rookie of the Year title. The following year he won the championship for Jack Roush’s Mercury Capri team to make him, at 22, the series’ youngest champion. He repeated as champion again in 1986 for the Protofab Camaro team.
These championships earned him an invitation to the elite IROC invitational series in 1987. Other outstanding accomplishments include four class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Dallenbach began an eleven-year NASCAR Cup career in 1991; scoring 23 top 10s – two coming in the Daytona 500 – in 226 races.
In addition to NASCAR Cup and Trans-Am, the versatile Dallenbach has competed in NASCAR Truck, Xfinity, IndyCar, IMSA Camel GT, and a win in the open wheel division at the Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb. He extended his career by becoming a motorsports commentator for TNT and NBC. Dallenbach has also served as a chief steward with the Trans-Am Series Presented by Pirelli.
In addition to Dallenbach, there are seven other drivers in the VROC field with IROC on their resumes. These include Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Labonte, Geoff Brabham, Davy Jones, Roberto Guerrero, Johnny Benson, and Mark Dismore.
The VROC Charity Pro-Am presented by Chopard Watch is a Saturday feature event at the Brickyard Invitational. The cars are 1963 to 1972 vintage Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs of SVRA Group 6 A and B Production. The professionals will be paired with amateur drivers. Amateurs will start the race and be required to drive a maximum of seven laps.