Simpson to Sue NASCAR UPDATE: ESPN.com has learned that Simpson is fingering NASCAR for wrongly accusing his safety company of playing any part in Earnhardt’ demise on the final lap of the Daytona 500. Bill Simpson wants his name absolved in the death of his friend Dale Earnhardt. Attorneys James H. Voyles and Robert W. Horn will file a suit Tuesday morning in an Indianapolis superior court. Simpson has confirmed he is filing a multimillion dollar lawsuit, charging NASCAR with defamation of character, false invasion of privacy, defamation by implication and reckless disregard for the truth. “NASCAR brought me to my knees like nobody else ever has and, for eight months, I felt impudent because these charges just kept coming and there was nothing I could do,” said Simpson, who received several death threats and eventually moved out of his former home in Charlotte, NC. Everyone who has ever dealt with NASCAR has acquiesced to them and nobody will stand up to them. But they picked on the wrong guy this time. I’m not going away quietly and they deserve to pay for what they did to me and my company’s reputation. This isn’t about money. This is about integrity and the truth.” NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said his organization would not comment.(ESPN)(2-11-2002) UPDATE: Simpson Performance Products issued a statement Tuesday in which is said it would not be party to any lawsuit against NASCAR. We have been working cooperatively with NASCAR for the past several months on ways to improve driver safety, to support NASCAR’ efforts on building strong safety programs and to contribute valuable input to the process, said Simpson Performance Products CEO Chuck Davies. The statement was released in response to several news reports that indicated Simpson Products founder and former president Bill Simpson would file a lawsuit against NASCAR for, among other things, defamation of character.(ThatsRacin.com) AND Bill Simpson intends to pursue his multi-million dollar lawsuit against NASCAR and will file it Wednesday morning in Indianapolis, but he’ll go it alone after Simpson Safety Products asked to be removed as a plaintiff.(ESPN)(2-13-2002) UPDATE suit filed: Bill Simpson was unable to elicit an apology from NASCAR on Tuesday, leaving him convinced that a lawsuit he filed today is his only recourse against stock-car racing’s sanctioning body. “I guess the word ‘apology’ is not in NASCAR’s vocabulary,” he said after a day of negotiations. “So, we’ll see them in court.” Simpson, a resident of Avon, IN, filed an $8.5 million lawsuit this morning in Marion County Superior Court, claiming NASCAR wrongly blamed the construction of seat belts made by his company in the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500.(Indianapolis Star)(2-13-2002)
