Simpson mulling options in wake of crash report

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com
August 22, 2001
5:18 PM EDT (2118 GMT)

Unable to gain relief from NASCAR's exhaustive report into the Dale Earnhardt crash, the head of Simpson Performance Products is expected to meet with attorneys to discuss filing a lawsuit against the sanctioning body.

Nelson Schwab, majority owner of the company, plans to meet with Simpson attorneys Bob Horn and Jim Voyles in the wake of NASCAR's latest refusal to clear the company of any role in the accident that killed Earnhardt, Horn said Wednesday. The meeting will probably take place within the next week in Charlotte, N.C., Horn said.

"It is Nelson's decision," Horn said. "He's thinking about [filing suit], but I'm not sure what he is going to do. We're going to have to discuss what the next step should be."

Bill Simpson

The situation is complicated by the recent resignation of Bill Simpson as president of the company he founded in 1958, Horn said.

Simpson himself could also file a lawsuit, but it appears the strongest case is if the safety product manufacturer can demonstrate it was adversely affected by NASCAR's handling of the Earnhardt investigation.

"If you look at what has been said, I don't think there is anything that specifically implicates Bill," Horn said. "Who has been harmed -- the company, the individual or some combination? The company is easier to make the case for. ... But with Bill out, Nelson might want to take a wait-and-see attitude."

Schwab was unavailable for comment Wednesday. He huddled a day earlier in Atlanta with attorneys and safety experts retained by Simpson, but left immediately after NASCAR released its report on the Earnhardt accident.

Schwab is managing director of Charlotte-based Carousel Capital, a private equity firm he helped found in 1996. The firm acquired a majority stake in Simpson Performance Products in 1998, though Bill Simpson still holds a 33 percent ownership.

The company has been at odds with NASCAR since the sanctioning body first reported in February that a torn lap belt might have been a factor in Earnhardt's death. Again in its final report, NASCAR did not rule out the belt as a contributing factor.

The Simpson team insists the belts weren't properly installed, and that the blame, if any, lies elsewhere. Attorneys said Simpson himself often warned Earnhardt about the setup of his safety restraint system.

So, armed with studies by their own experts, Simpson attorneys unsuccessfully asked NASCAR to include in its report that the belts weren't defective and the separation of the lap belt wasn't a cause of Earnhardt's death, contending the belts weren't installed according to the manufacturer's instructions.

"What NASCAR didn't accomplish is they didn't close the door on this thing," said Voyles. "They opened the door -- wider. That is the disappointment, because it's going to be the same problem for them, too.

"Once they start going down pit row and checking on where people have their seat belts fastened, that is kind of a validation of our position."