Bill Simpson has Passed Away

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by Mike Jones

Aftermarket Icon. I`m not sure what happened with Dale, but I remember that he sure paid the price. Condolences to his friends and family

What happened was that after Earnhardt died, NASCAR blamed Simpson safety harnesses for Earnhardt's death. In the aftermath, Simpson had to resign from Simpson Performance Products. He started IMPACT a year later.

After the medical examiner's report came out, Simpson was cleared of responsibility because Earnhardt had not been using the safety harness correctly. By then, it was too late and Simpson's reputation had taken a big hit. He sued NASCAR and they settled before the suit got into court.

[Dano]

Yes, Simpson was the man. It will be interesting to see if Impact carries on or gobbled up? Or has that already happened?

[nhramnl]

I always thought it was kinda unfortunate that there seemed to be an undertone within the racing community that Bill Simpson was a dick. A couple of times, I actually asked people who voiced that opinion what it was based upon, and they couldn't give any examples of bad behavior, poor treatment of customers, or anything else. I've proudly used Simpson products for many, many years, and have always believed it to be the stuff that everyone aspires to. RIP, Mr. Simpson.