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Simpson aiming to meet with NASCAR this month

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com
May 9, 2001
11:30 AM EDT (1530 GMT)

Memo to NASCAR brass: Embattled safety-belt manufacturer Bill Simpson still wants to have a word with you. And if his lawyer and your lawyers can play nice, it may happen later this month in Charlotte.

Bob Horn, an attorney representing Simpson, is trying to finalize a meeting with NASCAR's top officials, chairman Bill France Jr. and president Mike Helton, in the days between the running of The Winston (May 19) and the Coca-Cola 600 (May 27) at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As of Tuesday, he was optimistic, but had not received a commitment from NASCAR's chief counsel, Gary Crotty.

Crotty could not be reached for comment.

Horn is proposing that the parties gather without their lawyers, saying: "Bill Simpson has worked with Mike Helton and Bill France Jr. for a long time. It would behoove everybody to just say, 'Here is what I want. This is what I'd like for you to do.' And, 'I can do it or I can't.'"

Simply put, Simpson wants an update on NASCAR's probe of the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt and, in some form or another, a statement clearing him of any culpability -- thus returning his safety equipment company to the sport's good graces.

"I think Bill is very concerned about the perception among the teams about the safety of his products," Horn said from his office in Jackson Hole, Wyo. "And I think he would like to see that restored to the way it was before this accident happened. It would be nice if they did that. They have the ability to do it."

And why might an apology or clearance be so slow in coming?

"Oh, it's a huge business and it's very closed," Horn said. "And they don't want anything to reflect in any way upon their operation of these races or this sport."

Horn was livid last Thursday when NASCAR officials refused to meet when Simpson showed up at their Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters. Officials insisted a meeting had not been scheduled, but Horn said Simpson wouldn't have made the trek to Florida if he hadn't had a 10 a.m. appointment with France and Helton.

After Simpson waited 15 minutes in the lobby, Crotty approached Simpson and said the officials couldn't meet because his lawyer wasn't present. Horn said the NASCAR legal team overreacted, though acknowledging an April 13 letter he sent Helton, requesting his presence at any meetings involving the seat-belt controversy.

"What happened last week was just a mistake," Horn said. "I don't think this is an adversarial situation. And I don't think Simpson is squaring off against NASCAR or NASCAR is squaring off against Simpson. ... It's been resolved and I think they're trying to move on."

Indeed, Horn says he remains confident that an informal meeting would go a long way in satisfying Simpson. All he wants is NASCAR to acknowledge that the lap belt in Earnhardt's car was not defective and did not contribute to the death of the racing icon.

The idea of a lawsuit was bandied about last week. But now, Horn says it's unlikely -- even if NASCAR fails to clear Simpson.

"If they don't do it, I don't think there is a lawsuit that can make them," Horn said. "I don't think they can be compelled to do that. ... The real issue here is the safety of the drivers who are racing in these races. And Bill Simpson is a strong advocate for the safety of the drivers, and NASCAR says, 'We want the safest races we can have.' So there is plenty of common ground there for Simpson and for France to deal."

Simpson entered the spotlight when, less than a week after Earnhardt crashed at Daytona, NASCAR officials held a new conference to announce that a lap-belt failure might have contributed to the driver's fatal head injuries. His company has supplied belts and other safety gear to racing teams for three decades.

Subsequently, an independent study of the autopsy photos by Barry Myers, an expert from Duke University, found that seat-belt failure could not have contributed to Earnhardt's death. Simpson's case was further bolstered last week after paramedic Tommy Propst said Earnhardt's lap belt was intact when he reached the car moments after the accident.

Whether he agrees or not, Horn understands why NASCAR hasn't embraced the recent findings.

"The Myers Report, statements by the EMTs -- those are all things NASCAR should consider," Horn said. "But if they're doing their own investigation, I don't think they want to compromise that investigation by taking positions prior to the time they have done that work." Horn has obvious reservations with regard to NASCAR's overseeing the current investigation, particularly their refusal to identify the parties who are helping to conduct it.

"I don't know what they are doing," he said. "I don't know who is involved in doing the investigation. I don't know how it is being done. From just a general point of view, you and I have to look and say 'Look, whenever you have an agency doing an investigation of itself that is always suspect.' It would be clearly better for everybody if the thing was opened up."

Simpson maintains that the integrity of the belts was never compromised, suggesting that any failure occurred under a high load of force and after serving to restrain Earnhardt as his car crashed into the concrete retaining wall. There's also been speculation that the restraint system may not have been mounted in the recommended fashion.

However, the only time Simpson was allowed to see the restraint system was two or three days after the crash. And Horn acknowledged that Simpson told him the belt was in two pieces.

"I think that is consistent with what NASCAR claims, but the real issue is why," Horn said. "And nobody really knows. Nobody, from our point of view, has the capacity to say why that is."

The belt controversy has been tough for everyone in the sport to choose sides. Simpson is well respected by the race teams, and yet at the same time it's difficult to imagine NASCAR making such an issue of the belt without a shred of evidence.

"Well, [NASCAR] was the first to really look at the race car," offered Humpy Wheeler, general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway. "That does mean something. They've taken it on chin on this. And Bill Simpson has taken it on the chin. Bill Simpson has saved more lives than everybody in racing put together and his products have always been -- you just don't think about his product ever having anything defective.

"When this thing comes to an end, there will be a reason why all these things happened, and don't think you can blame it on the product itself."

In the wake of revelations about the seat belts, Simpson received threatening phone calls and even death threats. But at this point, there is no way of telling the financial hurt, if any, brought on by the company's association with the fatal crash.

As for the intentions of NASCAR, even Horn has no evidence to indicate anyone set out to intentionally damage Simpson.

"I just think it is their presentation, the way it was perceived and the way they spoke," he said. "Once they got far down the road, they weren't able to take the step back."

And despite his kinder approach in recent days, it is still apparent that Horn is leery of NASCAR and its motives.

Asked if wasn't beyond credulity to imagine NASCAR creating a seat-belt controversy out of nothing, he said: "Well, NASCAR is a huge business. And it's very hard to define what the people who are running that business really want out of this whole thing."

In the same light, he isn't surprised by NASCAR's uncanny good fortune to have members of the racing community -- drivers, team owners and so forth -- quickly step forward in support every time its come under a black cloud since the Earnhardt crash.

"NASCAR is very powerful," Horn said. "If you're a driver, where do you go if you don't run in NASCAR events? I think they have tremendous control. They have tremendous influence. And they have a lot of people who are willing to stand up and be spokesmen for them.

"I don't think it bothers or concerns me. It is my perception of the reality. That is what you're dealing with when you deal with NASCAR. You're dealing with a huge, huge business that is amazingly closed, and the people who are involved in that business don't have a lot of options other than NASCAR."