rpm.espn.com: Fan turns video over to seat belt maker

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Friday, April 13
Fan turns video over to seat belt maker
ESPN.com news services

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a bizzarre twist into the investigation of Dale Earnhardt's death, Bill Simpson claims a fan has come forward with video showing Earnhardt being cut from his seat belt.

Simpson, founder and chairman of Simpson Performance Products, which made the seat belt Earnhardt was wearing during his deadly crash at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, told ESPN radio's Jack Arute that a fan sent him the video of the crash. According to Simpson, he believes the video shows that an EMT cut the seat belt.

"Since this whole thing has surfaced and since NASCAR did their press conference, there's a spectator that has come foward with videotape and it clearly shows an EMT getting into the car with a knife – and that's what it looked like to me – like it had been cut," said Simpson. "I have a copy of it now and it's out being enhanced at the moment."

After Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona, NASCAR reported that a broken seat belt was discovered in Earnhardt's car. But, earlier this week, an independent doctor who viewed autopsy photos made the claim that a broken seat belt did not cause Earnhardt's death.

Dr. Barry Myers of Duke University studied autopsy photos of Earnhardt for the Orlando Sentinel and found that the seven-time Winston Cup champion was killed when his head whipped violently forward in the seconds after his car hit a wall going 150 mph at the Daytona 500.

"As such," Myers wrote in the four-page report, "the restraint failure does not appear to have played a role in Mr. Earnhardt's fatal injury."

A spokesman for NASCAR said Friday night that it would have no response to what Simpson said. NASCAR maintained earlier this week that their investigation was ongoing and they had yet to determine what caused Earnhardt's death.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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	Daytona doctor: Blaming seat belt was premature Belt maker feels vindicated by new medical report NASCAR responds to expert's findings Independent expert says Earnhardt died of head whip Earnhardt accident results not expected until August

	The Maker Dale Earnhardt's seat belt might have been cut according to, Chairman of Simpson Performance Products Bill Simpson. wav: 162 k Real: 14.4 \| 28.8 \| 56.6 Tony Kornheiser Show ESPN's Jack Arute reports on the latest seatbelt news surrounding Dale Earnhardt's death. wav: 1191 k Real: 14.4 \| 28.8 \| 56.6