Simpson to meet with France and Helton on Thursday UPDATE 4 no meeting: Bill Simpson, founder and chairman of the company that made the seat belts in Dale Earnhardt’s race car, said Tuesday that he will ask NASCAR’s top two officials to issue a statement that the seatbelts in Earnhardt’s car had nothing to do with Earnhardt’s Feb. 18 death in the final lap of the Daytona 500. Simpson told ESPN’s Kelly Neal that he would make the request in a meeting he has scheduled for Thursday morning with NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. and NASCAR president Mike Helton in Daytona Beach(full story at ESPN)(5-1-2001) UPDATE: Word on the street is that, in what appears to be a miscommunication, there will be no meeting Thursday morning between anyone at NASCAR and Bill Simpson of Simpson Racing Products. A spokesperson at Simpson’s office in Mooresville, NC, said she could not reach Simpson or his pilot but “NASCAR apparently had canceled the meeting.” A NASCAR spokesman said, “There never was a meeting — there is nothing on Bill, Jim or Mike’s calendars,” referring to NASCAR chairman of the board Bill France, NASCAR executive vice president/secretary Jim France or NASCAR president Mike Helton.(NASCAR.com Buzz)(5-2-2001) UPDATE 2: but the Orlando Sentinel is reporting: With a showdown meeting between Simpson and NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. looming at 10:00am/et today in Daytona Beach, Simpson offered his version of events in the days after Earnhardts death during an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. Simpson wants to be exonerated by NASCAR, whose officials did not return repeated phone requests for comment UPDATE 3: Bill Simpson came to Florida on Thursday looking for an apology from NASCAR over remarks that the failure of one of his products may have been responsible for the death of Dale Earnhardt. Instead, he waited alone in NASCAR’s lobby for 15 minutes before being told that his lawyer didn’t want him to have any contact with NASCAR without legal representation.(That’s Racin’/AP)(5-3-2001) (5-2-2001)
