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A year after NASCAR's Earnhardt report, the man who was scrutinized by it returns to the safety business.
By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times
published August 21, 2002
Years ago, Bill Simpson set himself on fire to prove the racing suit he designed would protect drivers from their biggest fear. He believed in his products that much.
He still does.
One year after a NASCAR investigation claimed the failure of a Simpson seat belt contributed to the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Simpson is back in business designing helmets and safety harnesses.
"I have a good spirit," said Simpson, 62. "I have a lot to give to the sport, and I'm pleased to be able to start contributing again. The NASCAR deal to me is something I don't want to pay a lot of attention to. I lived it for too many months. It was a living hell."
Simpson hoped NASCAR's six-month investigation would absolve him and his company, Simpson Performance Products, of any blame for Earnhardt's death in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. He was disappointed.
In re-creating the accident, a team of scientists determined three factors combined to cause the fatal basal skull fracture: the separated left lap belt, the displacement of Earnhardt's body to the right by contact from Ken Schrader's car, and the velocity and angle of impact with the Turn 4 wall.
Specifically, the seat belt "dumped," or tore, because the strapping bunched at one end of the metal adjuster. Backed by an independent study, Simpson claimed the belt dumped because it was installed outside the manufacturer's specifications. NASCAR's scientists did not offer an explanation.
"(The report) needed to vindicate us because we didn't do anything wrong," Simpson said. "Instead of doing that, it condemned us further. I'm the only person whose life hasn't gotten back to normal. It's been one bad, bad time that I've had."
Simpson received death threats. Bullets were shot into his home in Charlotte, N.C. His tires were slashed. In July 2001, Simpson resigned from the company he founded, citing stress and the fear he would be run out of business.
Chuck Davies, CEO of Simpson Performance Products, would not say if the company lost business because of the seat belt issue, only that business is fine.
"Bill probably saved more people's lives and protected more limbs in racing than anybody, and second place is not even close," Davies said. "I don't think anybody really questioned that Bill Simpson dedicated his life to making racers safer and as a direct result saved the lives of a lot of racers."
Wanting nothing more than an apology, and bitter he did not receive it, Simpson filed an $8.5-million defamation of character suit against NASCAR in February, four days before the sanctioning body's biggest event, the Daytona 500. The case is set for trial in September 2003 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, where Simpson's company was based and where he has primary residence.
When the lawsuit was filed, NASCAR issued a release saying it was "totally without merit."
Simpson called the filing a turning point.
"When that was filed, I alleviated myself of about 10 tons off my back because I made a statement," Simpson said. "Now, I don't even really pay much attention to it. The lawyers take care of it."
For the past year, Simpson has kept busy, opening a restaurant in Indianapolis, going to non-NASCAR races and researching his latest safety ideas. His one-year noncompete clause with his former company expired Saturday. His new company is called Bill Simpson's Impact Racing.
"I haven't just been sitting," Simpson said. "I've been doing a lot of testing away from everybody's eyes. I've completely changed helmet technology and raised the bar about 15 points. I'm quite positive I will have a lot of Winston Cup drivers because it's a better product."
But Simpson, whose former company made the seat belt Earnhardt was wearing, is also fighting for his reputation in the marketplace.
Last week he opened Bill Simpson's Impact Racing, a company that will manufacture helmets and assorted safety equipment in a new complex in Brownsburg. The first items are expected to be available in November, Simpson said Tuesday.
"About three-quarters of the (Indy Racing League drivers) use my old company," he said. "By the first of next year I expect 90 percent will be using Impact Racing."
Simpson, who is responsible for the creation of high-tech racing helmets, fireproof gloves, suits and underwear along with window nets in stock cars, hopes for similar market penetration in NASCAR.
He does concede that picking a fight with the NASCAR hierarchy is an obstacle, at least initially.
He vowed to keep the lawsuit he filed in Marion County Superior Court alive until he gets an apology from NASCAR or a verdict from a jury; the trial is set for September 2003.
NASCAR's report, released a year ago today in Atlanta, said Earnhardt's belts failed because they bunched at the adjuster, causing disproportional load on the woven fiber. But there was no mention of Earnhardt's team, Richard Childress Racing, mounting the belts differently than the procedure recommended by Simpson.
Simpson, 62, contends the belt separated because its strength was compromised by 70 percent due to a bad pulling angle created by Earnhardt's insistence that the brackets be mounted lower to allow him to sit lower in the car.
Belt manufacturer Simpson Race Products, which Simpson founded, chose not to join him in the fight against NASCAR. Company CEO Chuck Davies said it was not a fight worth undertaking. SRP and Simpson then severed their ties, although Simpson owns a significant share of the company. His no-compete clause ended last Thursday.
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter declined to discuss Simpson's case Tuesday due to the pending litigation. Davies wants both sides to give up the fight.
"Let's move on and not waste all this money (in court) when we could be putting all our energy in making racing safer, which has been Bill's mission for all these years," Davies said. "I don't think getting an apology out of NASCAR, which I doubt he'll get, is going to accomplish the mission."
IRL driver Davey Hamilton expects Simpson to prevail in the long run, especially in terms of selling his equipment to drivers.
"He's as determined as ever to have the latest, greatest, lightest and strongest stuff," said Hamilton, who has spent time with Simpson during the past year while rehabilitating his surgically repaired legs and feet. "He's one of the few guys out there doing the research and development that it takes to get better.
"I guarantee you: Once he starts selling his new stuff, you'll see it all over the place."
Simpson, who built a reputation as an innovator, has been involved in all forms of motorsports, from Indy cars to stock cars, short tracks and Southern California street racing. Former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace is one of his most loyal supporters. So are two-time Indianapolis 500 winners Al Unser Jr. and Arie Luyendyk. Earnhardt was on that list, too.
Simpson spent Tuesday at Indianapolis Raceway Park, where NHRA's top drag racers were testing for the 48th annual U.S. Nationals. He pitched his future to his clients of the past. He found friends.
"All my safety equipment is Simpson's," Top Fuel points leader Larry Dixon said. "He's one of the guys who has gone into business not to make money but to help the racers and to try to save lives. He deserves support from everybody."
Though Impact Racing didn't become official until last week, Simpson already has two dozen employees working in the Westside building on 21st Street where the old company once had its headquarters. He said he has 16 patents pending.
Set to open this fall, the Brownsburg facility will include space for race teams, too. It is located in a growing motorsports business area near Interstate 74. Drag racer Don Prudhomme, another Simpson supporter, will be nearby.
Simpson also is working on a plan to bring safety and organization to street racing in the area of his hometown, Redondo Beach, Calif.
"When we (agreed to continue the lawsuit), it lifted a million pounds off my back," said Simpson, who also has a restaurant, Flat Tops, on the Westside. "What it allowed me to do was stand up and tell NASCAR they're wrong.
By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times
published August 21, 2002
Years ago, Bill Simpson set himself on fire to prove the racing suit he designed would protect drivers from their biggest fear. He believed in his products that much.
He still does.
One year after a NASCAR investigation claimed the failure of a Simpson seat belt contributed to the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Simpson is back in business designing helmets and safety harnesses.
"I have a good spirit," said Simpson, 62. "I have a lot to give to the sport, and I'm pleased to be able to start contributing again. The NASCAR deal to me is something I don't want to pay a lot of attention to. I lived it for too many months. It was a living hell."
Simpson hoped NASCAR's six-month investigation would absolve him and his company, Simpson Performance Products, of any blame for Earnhardt's death in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. He was disappointed.
In re-creating the accident, a team of scientists determined three factors combined to cause the fatal basal skull fracture: the separated left lap belt, the displacement of Earnhardt's body to the right by contact from Ken Schrader's car, and the velocity and angle of impact with the Turn 4 wall.
Specifically, the seat belt "dumped," or tore, because the strapping bunched at one end of the metal adjuster. Backed by an independent study, Simpson claimed the belt dumped because it was installed outside the manufacturer's specifications. NASCAR's scientists did not offer an explanation.
"(The report) needed to vindicate us because we didn't do anything wrong," Simpson said. "Instead of doing that, it condemned us further. I'm the only person whose life hasn't gotten back to normal. It's been one bad, bad time that I've had."
Simpson received death threats. Bullets were shot into his home in Charlotte, N.C. His tires were slashed. In July 2001, Simpson resigned from the company he founded, citing stress and the fear he would be run out of business.
Chuck Davies, CEO of Simpson Performance Products, would not say if the company lost business because of the seat belt issue, only that business is fine.
"Bill probably saved more people's lives and protected more limbs in racing than anybody, and second place is not even close," Davies said. "I don't think anybody really questioned that Bill Simpson dedicated his life to making racers safer and as a direct result saved the lives of a lot of racers."
Wanting nothing more than an apology, and bitter he did not receive it, Simpson filed an $8.5-million defamation of character suit against NASCAR in February, four days before the sanctioning body's biggest event, the Daytona 500. The case is set for trial in September 2003 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, where Simpson's company was based and where he has primary residence.
When the lawsuit was filed, NASCAR issued a release saying it was "totally without merit."
Simpson called the filing a turning point.
"When that was filed, I alleviated myself of about 10 tons off my back because I made a statement," Simpson said. "Now, I don't even really pay much attention to it. The lawyers take care of it."
For the past year, Simpson has kept busy, opening a restaurant in Indianapolis, going to non-NASCAR races and researching his latest safety ideas. His one-year noncompete clause with his former company expired Saturday. His new company is called Bill Simpson's Impact Racing.
"I haven't just been sitting," Simpson said. "I've been doing a lot of testing away from everybody's eyes. I've completely changed helmet technology and raised the bar about 15 points. I'm quite positive I will have a lot of Winston Cup drivers because it's a better product."
But Simpson, whose former company made the seat belt Earnhardt was wearing, is also fighting for his reputation in the marketplace.
Last week he opened Bill Simpson's Impact Racing, a company that will manufacture helmets and assorted safety equipment in a new complex in Brownsburg. The first items are expected to be available in November, Simpson said Tuesday.
"About three-quarters of the (Indy Racing League drivers) use my old company," he said. "By the first of next year I expect 90 percent will be using Impact Racing."
Simpson, who is responsible for the creation of high-tech racing helmets, fireproof gloves, suits and underwear along with window nets in stock cars, hopes for similar market penetration in NASCAR.
He does concede that picking a fight with the NASCAR hierarchy is an obstacle, at least initially.
He vowed to keep the lawsuit he filed in Marion County Superior Court alive until he gets an apology from NASCAR or a verdict from a jury; the trial is set for September 2003.
NASCAR's report, released a year ago today in Atlanta, said Earnhardt's belts failed because they bunched at the adjuster, causing disproportional load on the woven fiber. But there was no mention of Earnhardt's team, Richard Childress Racing, mounting the belts differently than the procedure recommended by Simpson.
Simpson, 62, contends the belt separated because its strength was compromised by 70 percent due to a bad pulling angle created by Earnhardt's insistence that the brackets be mounted lower to allow him to sit lower in the car.
Belt manufacturer Simpson Race Products, which Simpson founded, chose not to join him in the fight against NASCAR. Company CEO Chuck Davies said it was not a fight worth undertaking. SRP and Simpson then severed their ties, although Simpson owns a significant share of the company. His no-compete clause ended last Thursday.
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter declined to discuss Simpson's case Tuesday due to the pending litigation. Davies wants both sides to give up the fight.
"Let's move on and not waste all this money (in court) when we could be putting all our energy in making racing safer, which has been Bill's mission for all these years," Davies said. "I don't think getting an apology out of NASCAR, which I doubt he'll get, is going to accomplish the mission."
IRL driver Davey Hamilton expects Simpson to prevail in the long run, especially in terms of selling his equipment to drivers.
"He's as determined as ever to have the latest, greatest, lightest and strongest stuff," said Hamilton, who has spent time with Simpson during the past year while rehabilitating his surgically repaired legs and feet. "He's one of the few guys out there doing the research and development that it takes to get better.
"I guarantee you: Once he starts selling his new stuff, you'll see it all over the place."
Simpson, who built a reputation as an innovator, has been involved in all forms of motorsports, from Indy cars to stock cars, short tracks and Southern California street racing. Former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace is one of his most loyal supporters. So are two-time Indianapolis 500 winners Al Unser Jr. and Arie Luyendyk. Earnhardt was on that list, too.
Simpson spent Tuesday at Indianapolis Raceway Park, where NHRA's top drag racers were testing for the 48th annual U.S. Nationals. He pitched his future to his clients of the past. He found friends.
"All my safety equipment is Simpson's," Top Fuel points leader Larry Dixon said. "He's one of the guys who has gone into business not to make money but to help the racers and to try to save lives. He deserves support from everybody."
Though Impact Racing didn't become official until last week, Simpson already has two dozen employees working in the Westside building on 21st Street where the old company once had its headquarters. He said he has 16 patents pending.
Set to open this fall, the Brownsburg facility will include space for race teams, too. It is located in a growing motorsports business area near Interstate 74. Drag racer Don Prudhomme, another Simpson supporter, will be nearby.
Simpson also is working on a plan to bring safety and organization to street racing in the area of his hometown, Redondo Beach, Calif.
"When we (agreed to continue the lawsuit), it lifted a million pounds off my back," said Simpson, who also has a restaurant, Flat Tops, on the Westside. "What it allowed me to do was stand up and tell NASCAR they're wrong.
