Matt Yocum's Mailbag

Q: During the New Hampshire race, you showed a new helmet that a bunch of the drivers are wearing, can you explain again why it's so much better than having the air conditioning hose entering the left side of the helmet?
-- Peter from Syracuse, N.Y.

Yocum: The folks at Simpson provided the cool cutaway helmet shown during Sunday's TNT race. Designed by Gary Peters who is a Senior Product Development Engineer for Simpson, the Air Inforcer Shark is a pretty interesting piece.

Gary told me that when he started designing this helmet, he put a lot of emphasis on the helmet being low profile, so the top of the helmet did not hit the roof/roll cage in the car, yet get maximum air flow to as many places as possible to the top of the head without taking away any of the safety factor in the helmet.

Simpson is the only helmet maker with six holes inside the plenum. Four of the holes transfer air to the top of the head in different locations which are spread out to get more surface area, thus cooling more of the head.

The two remaining holes transfer air to the drivers' face via channels that come down and exit at the top of the eye port. On this helmet, a chin flap seals off the bottom of the helmet, creating a positive pressure inside the helmet, blocking out hot air and carbon monoxide. Kevin Harvick told me that it works so well, he had them close off two of the six vents.

KH wears the helmet in only the Car of Tomorrow races due to more intense heat inside the car. The heat factor has gotten better with the continued development on the COT, but at New Hampshire, a 29 crew member put a couple heat strips inside the car on the floorboard for me. After the race, the number even surprised him ... reaching 327 degrees.

Q: I watched the tribute to Benny Parsons on TNT just now. My one and only memory of Benny was meeting him at Chicagoland in 2005. Walking back to the safety team tent after the Sunday race, I saw this gentleman in a shirt and tie with Nike running shoes walking next to me. I knew who he was and not wanting to have a lot of people bother him as he was winding down from a long day of work, I quietly asked him how we was? And how was his stay in Chicago (Where the greatest NASCAR fans are) was? We talked until we arrived at the team's tent. We shook hands ands parted ways. Having followed NASCAR since 1973 in Chicago where news on races was thin to non-existent this was a moment I will never forget. Benny loved NASCAR and the fans that support NASCAR. I just wanted to say what a great job you guys did on the tribute to Benny. Stop by the Turn 1 fire truck this year and say hi.
-- Lt. Scott Mensing, Wheaton FD/Chicagoland Safety Team

Yocum: Thanks Lt. Scott for your e-mail about BP. He was one in a million! He was more like a father to me than a co-worker. My trips to and from the races have had a empty feeling this year without my traveling buddy.

BP had many interests, but one passion was his new vineyard. His wife, Terri, hasn't let up for a second. She has worked tirelessly keeping alive his dream.

Quick history lesson on the Vineyard: it's located on Benny Parsons Road in Purlear, N.C. in the town of Parsonsville. It surrounds BP and Terri's new home that is located on top of Rendezvous Ridge. Thus Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge Vineyards.

There are no tours of the vineyard currently. However you can visit the The Benny Parsons Wine Tasting Room and Racing Museum located at 4187 Hwy. 421 in Wilkesboro, N.C.

Inside a 7,300 square-foot building, you'll find a wine tasting room, a gift shop and a museum broken down into three rooms and themes. One is dedicated to memorabilia collectibles from Benny's personal collections, another is BP's media room dedicated to TV, radio ... and let's not forget a few of the movies BP took part in. The largest room, of course, is dedicated to NASCAR trophies, photos, uniforms, helmets, etc. Terri will be changing exhibits in the museum every three months shifting to different themes.

The museum is free and open to the public. The wine tasting is exactly like all other tasting rooms. You pay $6, get a wine glass with an etched logo, then you sample all of BP and Terri's five different wines:

• a Rose named BP's Blush
• a Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
• a Riesling
• a Merlot
• a Cab Franc

So if you are in the area, please stop by BP's wine tasting room and museum.

One other thing, we are always on the look out for BP's racing items (helmets, driving suits, shoes etc), if you come across anything please e-mail me at BPMUSEUM@AOL.COM. (Continued)