Bill Simpson should send a Thank you card to Barry Myers. Simpson is a businessman whose well-established and respected firm has been taking a severe hit this year. Myers is an expert in biomedical engineering.

Simpson Performance Products made the seatbelt that was installed in Dale Earnhardt’s car when it hit the wall on the last lap of this year’s Daytona 500. Earnhardt, as you know, died in the crash.

Five days later, NASCAR officials let it slip that the seatbelt was found to have broken during the crash. They avoided saying that the seatbelt was the cause of the fatality. They didn’t have to, much of the interested public seized on the hint, jumping to the conclusion that it was.

Simpson complained that, even without proof, his 43 year old business, and his personal reputation, have “gone to hell.” At least one racing team dropped him as a supplier. In addition, some mouth-breather fans have sent death threats and bomb threats, blaming him for the death of their god.

Simpson wanted to know.  He sent six sets of lap belts from the same batch as the one in Earnhardt’s car, to an independent testing lab. Five of the belts failed when more than 4,750 were placed on it. The sixth one held even 58 hundred pounds, nearly three tons.

John Melvin, a biomechanical engineer from Detroit, said that it is virtually impossible that the belts in No. 3, experienced more weight than what was used in the tests.

Then along comes Barry Myers, Dr. Barry Myers, actually. He is the expert who was hired by The Orlando Sentinel newspaper to view the autopsy photos before they were permanently (and unconstitutionally) sealed.

Dr. Myers issued his report this week. Short (four pages) and to the point, it said that the broken seatbelt did not kill Dale Earnhardt. The report said that the tragedy occurred because the car went head-on into a solid wall at 150 mph and stopped.

There was no chance for any controlled deceleration. No crush zone, no breakaway parts.  At one instant the car, with the man inside, was traveling 150 mph…the next instant, the car stopped. Most of the man, fastened to the car, also stopped. But the head, dangling out there on the end of a neck, kept going at 150 mph. As always, the weakest part of the system failed.

After Dr. Myers’ report was released, NASCAR officials were quick to point out that they never suggested what might have happened except for their preliminary investigation.

They also announced the creation of a commission to investigate. The commission will have several different experts, including one involved in analysis of safety restraint systems.

It behooves NASCAR to be able to blame something other than the cars for Earnhardt’s death. Other racing series which involve speeds of 150 to 200 mph have developed cars which are designed to breakaway piece by piece all around a solid, secure tub which contains the driver.

NASCAR racers, on the other hand, are built solid. Solid, steel tube frameworks which extend out to the steel skin which is the first part to hit things when something goes wrong. True, they work quite well when a car twists and rolls and pirouettes through the air. The twisting, rolling and pirouetting dissipate the energy and allow the car to decelerate slowly while the driver sits protected in a cage.

In other words, NASCAR fears that the public may begin to think that it is racing cars which are out-of-date in chassis design and powerplant (carburetors). And that its failure to keep up with the times cost it its best known active driver.