No Fear team to debut with Said at Infineon.
No Fear Incorporated, the California-based action sports lifestyle brand, will contest a four-race schedule in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series with driver Boris Said starting next weekend at the Infineon Raceway.
No Fear Incorporated, the California-based action sports lifestyle brand, will contest a four-race schedule in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series with driver Boris Said starting next weekend at the Infineon Raceway.
No Fear Racing will be owned and operated by occasional Cup driver Mark Simo, ex-crew chief Frank Stoddard and the versatile Boris Said. No Fear Racing will be based out of the company's new east coast corporate headquarters in North Carolina located adjacent to the Roush Racing campus, from whom the new team will receive technical support, motors and cars.
Sponsorship will come in the form of No Fear's highly successful energy drink, SoBe No Fear.
Said will drive the car in all four races, provided he can make it through the qualifying lottery.
No Fear Racing will debut at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway the weekend of June 24th-25th. Six days later, No Fear Racing will compete in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. On August 6th, the No Fear Ford Fusion will race in the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, and a week later, at the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen.
The four-race schedule this summer marks the continuing evolution of No Fear's 20-year history of motorsports activity. Initially involved in motocross during the mid-to late 1980s, No Fear then moved into four wheel racing where the company won multiple championships in SCCA, IMSA and Trans-Am racing, as well as a number of Late Model stock car titles. In 1995 the company then decided to field a team in the inaugural season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, winning races and placing second overall. Continuing on in the Craftsman Truck Series through 1998, No Fear then entered a team in the Winston Cup Series in 1999 and 2000.
After taking the last six years to regroup, No Fear is now poised to return to NASCAR's premier series. "We believe that the NASCAR Nextel Cup series provides a highly visible platform to promote our widely distributed energy drink and to highlight our racing heritage for our core No Fear brand," says Mark Simo, No Fear founder and CEO. "The Nextel Cup Series provides us with the opportunity to showcase our authentic heritage in motor racing, to promote our drink to true racing enthusiasts, as well as to promote NASCAR, Roush Racing and Ford."
"I've been making the switch from road racing to full-time NASCAR Nextel Cup," offers Said. "I raced with MB2 last season and I really appreciate the opportunity they gave me last year. It is a great team and organization. However, this year, with my affiliation with Roush Racing and working with their young drivers on their road racing skills, Jack offered us the chance to purchase cars and engines and more importantly, technical support. So now, after all the years of teaching people on the road courses, I finally feel like I'm getting paid back by receiving and using the resources of Roush Racing.
"Being a team owner is a dream come true and something I never really expected to happen," says Said. "But all the pieces with Mark Simo and Frank came together and the support that Roush Racing has offered is something that just doesn't come along every day."
Having won 14 Nextel Cup races as a crew chief with Roush Racing, Frank Stoddard is looking forward to taking on the challenge of owning and overseeing a NASCAR Nextel Cup racing team.
"It's very exciting to start something from the ground floor up and see it grow into something big," says Stoddard, who worked as a crew chief for Roush driver Jeff Burton from 1998 through 2001. "It's like getting a big Christmas present, opening it up, putting it together and playing with it all day".
"I was with Roush Racing for seven years and have a great relationship with Jack," Stoddard adds. "We've won races together and he has a great company. Boris has helped Roush Racing by training their kids in road racing and the two of us have a good relationship. Jack knows and likes me and knows and likes Boris. With Mark Simo involved, I think the timing to put this team together is perfect."
