Seat Belt News: NASCAR may be close to solving the mystery of Dale Earnhardt’s broken seat belt, but officials have provided no new information amid widespread speculation about what killed its biggest star. Earnhardt was killed in a crash on the last lap of the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 when his car slammed nose-first into the turn-four wall. Five days later, NASCAR officials revealed that they found a broken seat belt in Earnhardt’s car. They said only that the belt came apart, however, and have refused to divulge further details or speculate on what might have caused the belt to break. Though sources say NASCAR is having the lap belt analyzed by an outside consulting firm, NASCAR President Mike Helton declined to confirm or deny that March 2. Helton said NASCAR still has Earnhardt’s car and continues to investigate the crash. He said it has no time table for concluding its investigation.(Winston Cup Scene/need subscription to read)(3-8-2001)
