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Dale Earnhardt

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NASCAR asks for meeting with vocal rescuer

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com
May 3, 2001
6:02 PM EDT (2202 GMT)

ATLANTA -- As the probe continues into the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR has reached out to Tommy Propst, the rescue squad member who challenged its assertion that the racing icon's safety belt was broken in the accident.

NASCAR investigators also spent several hours Wednesday meeting with paramedics and others who were on the scene after Earnhardt's race car crashed Feb. 18 on the final lap of the Daytona 500, CNNSI.com has learned. Propst wasn't in Daytona for the meeting, but he received a call from a track official requesting a sit-down session.

Propst, an Orange County, Fla. firefighter, welcomes the opportunity to recount what he saw, though nothing was scheduled as of Thursday.

"They left a message on my recorder, saying they wanted to set up a meeting," Propst said. "It's encouraging. I hope we can hurry and get this thing behind us.

"I'm real surprised they haven't contacted me sooner."

Propst said the message was from Bruce Beckwith, director of emergency medical services at Daytona International Speedway. Beckwith couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, and track officials said he'd left the night before on a three-week European vacation.

Glyn Johnston, a speedway spokesperson, said even though Beckwith made the contact, the investigation remains under the auspices of NASCAR. A sister corporation of the sport's sanctioning body, International Speedway Corporation, owns the speedway.

Also Thursday, there was confusion when race car seat belt maker Bill Simpson came to Florida seeking an apology from NASCAR over remarks that the failure of one of his products may have been responsible for the death of Earnhardt.

NASCAR denied a meeting was ever scheduled.

Still, Simpson showed up and waited alone in NASCAR's lobby for 15 minutes before being told that his lawyer, Bob Horn, didn't want him to have any contact without legal representation. Simpson's case had been strengthened after Propst came forward recently, saying Earnhardt's belt was intact when he tended to him in his race car.

Propst, one of the first three paramedics to reach Earnhardt, has been a thorn for NASCAR in recent days, publicly challenging its position on the seat belt and questioning why investigators failed to question him. NASCAR's response has been that another rescue worker, Patti Dobler had the better view, having crawled into the opposite window and positioned herself at Earnhardt's right side.

Dobler told CNNSI.com that "I don't doubt" Propst version, but she isn't certain about the condition of the belts after the crash.

"I think she helped my story by what she said," added Propst, secretary/treasurer of a local firefighters union. "She said I had the better view of the belts ... If she said the belts on the left side were loose, they weren't. They were tight. The left lap belt was. The only belts loose that I saw were the shoulder belts."

Both paramedics agree that Earnhardt came in contact with the steering wheel after the car struck a concrete wall.

"The steering wheel was bent to the right," Propst said. "The right side was bent in ... something hit it. I did take his hand off the steering wheel. His hand was still on the steering wheel."