Simpson: I don't really know, I haven't thought about it in those terms. I haven't really sat down and thought about that. First of all, when I left Simpson Performance Products, it was like a big old weight off my back. I've been riding my motorcycle, visiting my pals. I don't know if it ever . . . there won't be nothing that will make it go away, really. How the hell do you fix what they did?

CRO: This experience would have broken a lot of people.

Simpson: Well, they f***ed with the wrong guy, because they ain't going to break me. I mean I came out of the gutter, pal. With no family or nothing. In case they didn't know it, I'm a street fighter, a bar fighter - that's been my whole life. Those piss ants aren't going to break me.

CRO: It's driven you from your company, basically.

Simpson: Well, it didn't really drive me from my company. I don't want my company to suffer from my actions. There's a lot of people that rely on a paycheck there every Friday and the worst I got with them [NASCAR], the worse it's going to be on my employees. They don't deserve that.

I know how NASCAR works. If it costs any people jobs because of me -- because I won't shut up, because I'm going forward with whatever I'm going to do - it's not fair to those people.

CRO: What do you mean by "how NASCAR works"?

Simpson: Well, it's already happening in the garage area. You're already seeing Simpson stuff disappearing and other things being put in that place. You could never say NASCAR said that, because they'd say, "Oh no, we think Simpson makes the finest stuff." That's their rhetoric. I hope that's true. I really honest to God hope that's true; that they're not saying anything bad about the company. Because the company makes good stuff.

CRO: Will your new company try to get into Winston Cup?

Simpson: No. My market will be where it's always been: Saturday night racers, open wheelers, and drag racing. They're going to be guys in Winston Cup racing who will want to use my new stuff, and I don't have a problem with that. But I'm not going there - my stuff will be available to anybody who wants it - under Bill Simpson Racing.

CRO: Next up for you then is the new company.

Simpson: I like to think I'm two to three years ahead of the competition, and have always been that way. That's something I take with me.

CRO: Is there a "no compete" clause with your old company?

Simpson: I have a no compete clause -- I can't compete with Simpson until July 2002, but it doesn't stop me from doing my R&D, doesn't stop me from building something and taking it out for testing. I'm trying to raise the bar on safety.

CRO: Can you be specific about some of these new products?

Simpson: Not really, not yet. You can go to the bank with the fact that we're going to have a helmet, but I'm not going to go any further than that.

CRO: Anything you want to add?

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