By WAYNE COFFEY in Rockingham, N.C.
and RICHARD HUFF in New York
Daily News Staff Writers

tock car driver Dale Earnhardt altered the seat belt in his No. 3 Chevy Monte Carlo during last week's Daytona 500, possibly playing a hand in his death on the final lap of the race.

NASCAR officials said yesterday that Earnhardt was found with a broken seat belt after the wreck in which he was killed instantly.

However, one source who saw the car after the wreck told the Daily News the seat belt failure was because of alterations to the safety harness ordered by Earnhardt, not because of a design flaw or failure of the mechanism.

Another source confirmed the manner in which Earnhardt had the belt installed likely caused its failure. Drivers often make equipment changes so they can be more comfortable in the cockpit.

"He just had a different thinking about the way he liked the belts," a NASCAR source said. "Dale was so successful, he went through a lot of accidents, he had no real reason to change some of the ways he did things."

NASCAR spokesman John Griffin called reports that Earnhardt altered his seat belt speculation, but said stock car racing's governing body will continue investigating the wreckage of the car, which is housed at a NASCAR facility in Charlotte, N.C.

The seven-time Winston Cup champion often dismissed newer safety devices, choosing instead to wear an old-style open-faced helmet and had his seat positioned further back in the car than any other driver.

During a press conference at the North Carolina Speedway yesterday, NASCAR President Mike Helton and Winston Cup director Gary Nelson revealed that the webbing on Earnhardt's lap belt broke, not the metal parts that hold it in place.

"In 52 years of NASCAR Winston Cup racing, this is the first one of these we've seen," said Nelson. "The integrity of the restraint system was severely compromised by the webbing separating."

"We're telling our teams to take a good long look at their seat-belt situation," Griffin said.

Winston Cup drivers use a five-point safety harness that has two straps over the driver's shoulders, two around his waist, and one between his legs. They all meet in the middle of the driver's body.

The left side of Earnhardt's belt broke, allowing his chest and chin to slam violently into the steering wheel.

"Certainly if his restraint system — the belts — had held, he would've had a much better chance for survival," said Steve Bohannon, Daytona's EMS doctor.

NASCAR officials declined to suggest why the seat-belt break may have happened. The part was supplied by Simpson Performance Products.

"The Simpson Company was not responsible in any way, shape or form for this accident," said Bill Simpson, founder of the company. "It's a tragedy of the first magnitude."

Fellow drivers and teams were shocked by the revelation of a belt break.

Jimmy Makar, crew chief for 2000 Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte, has been in stock car racing for 22 years. "I don't know of anybody who has ever heard or seen that before," Makar said.

Tony Siscone, a former NASCAR standout whose New Jersey company, Safety Connection, supplies racing equipment, has also never heard of a belt failing. "That belt would cut a human being in half before it would fail."