Simpson: Well, I couldn't. He had a secret going on, and I was sworn to secrecy. The reason I never made any mention about the full-face helmet through all this was because at one point, Dale sat me down and goes, "Look, I'm going to tell you something. This is why I wear an open-faced helmet." He says, "I feel [air] pressure differential in my car - that's why I sit the way I sit."

I've not ever said this before; I've said it in the last couple weeks - I've explained it. He could feel a pressure differential on his cheeks, you know.

CRO: I've heard he had special open-faced helmets that were even cut back farther than normal.

Simpson: Dale Earnhardt had his own everything - it was his own liner, it was his own shell, and it was only Dale Earnhardt's. It's put in the archives now.

CRO: Are you still going to races and giving racers safety advice?

Simpson: No. I'm on a hiatus. I'm resting. The last race I went to was the Brickyard 400. I basically went out there to talk to Richard. I wanted to ask Richard why he had taken Simpson belts out of his cars - what was the purpose of that? The answer he gave me was totally unsatisfactory.

CRO: Could you share that answer?

Simpson: Well, I don't really want to, not yet. But it wasn't valid, it was just bullshit, you know? It was NASCAR talking through Richard.

Anyway, I'm going to the final IRL race at Texas, but that's it, I won't go to any more races this year. I've got a program going on where I've got my old R&D shop fired up here in Indianapolis, and I'm going to go to work on some things that I've been thinking about for a long time - you know, ways of raising the bar.

A NEW START

CRO: Are you going to start a separate company?

Simpson: Yes!

CRO: So there's going to be another Simpson . . .

Simpson: It'll just be Bill Simpson Racing. Bill Simpson Racing has been around a long time, I mean when my kids were racing back in the '80s, it was Bill Simpson Racing.

CRO: What new products can you talk about?

Simpson: I want to be in the safety equipment business. I will compete with Simpson.

CRO: It's no wonder your partners aren't thrilled with you.

Simpson: I'm going to tell you what's going on, I'm not being secretive, I don't care. I've got a lot left to give to this sport, and I'm not going to back up and put my tail between my legs and go away -- particularly under the circumstances as they are now.

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