Mayfield Shook Up but OK UPDATE 2 seat belt torn: #12-Jeremy Mayfield wrecked in Turn 1 on Lap 55 at Dover and was taken by ambulance to nearby Bay Health Medical Center for a precautionary CT scan. That came out negative and Mayfield was released after being examined. The driver apparently suffered some bruising and a chipped tooth. Mayfield walked to the ambulance under his own power before being taken from the track. He did, however, lose consciousness for a short amount of time following the impact.(That’s Racin’)(9-23-2001) UPDATE: Mayfield also does NOT have a concussion and hearing NASCAR took the seat belts from the #12 car to examine them, they were not broken but had stretched some, no word on the manufacturer(9-24-2001) UPDATE 2: NASCAR officials discovered a partially-torn seat belt in the #12 car driven by Jeremy Mayfield following his accident in Sunday’s MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400 at Dover. Mayfield received only minor injuries in the accident. The partially-torn left lap belt was found by officials during the standard post-accident review of the car. The lap belt apparently “dumped” at some point during the accident. The act of dumping occurs when the seat belt webbing is pulled or moved significantly to one side of the metal adjustment device through which the webbing is threaded. NASCAR has outside experts reviewing the damaged belt and plans to offer recommendations to its teams prior to this coming weekend.s activities(NASCAR PR), the belt was made by Simpson Performance Products. Also, Bill Simpson was interviewed by John Kernan on ESPN’s RPM 2 Night and was pretty upset about the way NASCAR is handling it and says the belt did it’s job and that NASCAR should look into the cars as the problem not the seat belts(see report on ESPN(9-24-2001) AND more Simpson: Safety guru Bill Simpson wryly welcomed Monday’s NASCAR announcement that officials had found a “partially torn” Simpson lap belt in Jeremy Mayfield’s car following his crash at Dover. “They can put on all the dog-and-pony shows they want,” Simpson said. “I hope they just keep going with it. It’s just more food for the lawsuit.” Simpson said he “absolutely positively” plans to sue NASCAR over its various announcements about Simpson belts, dating to the week after Dale Earnhardt was killed in the Feb. 18 Daytona 500. See full story at the Orlando Sentiel: Seat-belt flap arises anew(9-25-2001)
