There were a whole lot of things I had on the drawing board when the
whole tragedy happened, and they just stopped. Everything stopped because
I was on a defensive mode, rather than a constructive mode, and nothing
was getting done. Nothing. I couldn't work.
CRO: Will you have to sell the third interest you have in the
current Simpson?
Simpson: Oh boy, I'd like to. I'll discount it to somebody really
big. I spoke with my attorneys today and said I'd like you to send a
letter to Carousel Capitol [partners] because my one third is going
to be for sale, and I'm going to sell it pretty cheap.
CRO: Have you ever seen what happened to Earnhardt's belt happen
in any other car?
Simpson: No, I've never seen anything like that before. It's
so screwy looking that still in my heart I don't believe that happened
the way they claim that it did.
CRO: Can you explain for the layperson how Earnhardt's belts
were mounted?
Simpson: The seat belts were mounted incorrectly. If you look
in your car that you drive down the street, the seat belt is right at
your butt. When you click it in place, you'll notice it's about at a
45-degree angle to your pelvis. Earnhardt's seatbelt was mounted about
eight and one-half inches beyond that to the rear. So, what would happen
is that it would turn the adjuster sideways [in the extra belt webbing
-- Ed.] And there's a possibility that the webbing could bunch up in
the corner of the adjuster, and were that to happen, the tensile strength
of the webbing would go from 9,000 pounds more or less, to about 1,500
to 2,000 pounds.
However, note this -- that in your passenger car seat belt mounting
and the webbing are only 1,500-pound test. It has to do with the misalignment
of the webbing to the adjuster. The adjuster is a piece of forged metal
that has a slide bar in it and the webbing threads through that so that
you can loosen and tighten the belt.
I've made the suggestion since then to Chip Ganassi, for example --
he was asking me about Sterling's car -- the only way you're going to
stop this from happening ever again is to don't have an adjuster on
the left side. You just make a solid [belt] piece from where you mount
the seat belt to the buckle. The right side is where all the adjustment
is. There are Indy cars that way. In fact, most Indy cars don't have
an adjuster in the lap belt. That's why you see guys standing over the
cars buckling those guys in. [The belt fit is so tight that crew members
have to help the driver strap in. - Ed.]
CRO: Right now, in Winston Cup, are there other people with
seat belt installations that you would be concerned about?
Simpson: Not since this happened.
CRO: So, there has been a change then?
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