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Words: Mike Aguilar
I was introduced to Bill Simpson at the tender age of 16 when my mentor, Frank Leary, presented me with my first safety harness. Today, it pains me to announce that he has passed away at the age of 79. I am one of many racers who can directly attribute their being alive to his life’s work as a motorsports safety pioneer. Bill Simpson could be one mean SOB if you crossed him, but if he liked you, you were set.
Bill Simpson was first and foremost a racer who was devoted to making a dangerous sport as safe as it could be. He lived life on the edge, but he worked to make that edge as wide and stable as possible. Many a driver and team owner got mad as hell at him over the years, but at the end of the day, not a one would hesitate to buy him a drink once the checkered flag waved. He raced at Indianapolis and drove dragsters for a time, but made his name keeping others alive. To prove that his driver suits worked, he once set himself on fire. He started the Simpson Safety Equipment empire in his garage.
Don “The Snake” Prudhomme said, “Not a lot of people know this, but (EJ) Bill Simpson was an orphan that had nothing, and turned his life into something special. He did so much, and save so many lives with his innovations.” It wasn’t easy for someone who many called “Mr. Tactless” to make friends, but once he did, he was your friend for life.
Bill was born in Hemrosa Beach, Calif. and started drag racing in the late '50s. He broke both arms in a crash at the age of 18, mostly due to the weak brakes of the era. This led to his inventing the drag racing parachute. The NHRA soon adopted that parachute as a requirement for all cars at a certain level.
Then astronaut Pete Conrad introduced him to an innovative new material called Nomex. This was the era when drivers in the top series of IndyCar, F1 and NASCAR didn’t die because of impacts, but because their clothing was flammable. Bill started making “fire suits” made out of Nomex and within a couple of years (1967) 30 out of the 33 driver field at Indy were wearing Simpson Nomex fire suits. In order to get USAC (United States Auto Club) drivers to adopt it, Bill set himself on fire in Turn 1 to prove he could survive a fire wearing his fire suit.
In 2003, Simpson sued NASCAR because they blamed his seats for the death of the legendary Dale Earnhardt. He won and Senior’s death as blamed on the fact that he had loosened his safety belt and was not wearing the somewhat new HANS device.
There’s so much that can be said about Bill’s life and the products he introduced to racing. Suffice it to say, many of us wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the fact he kept fighting intertia and got his equipment, and that of others, accepted and then mandated by all sanctioning bodies. Thank you Bill, and Rest in Peace.