Bill Simpson, racing safety pioneer whose products have saved countless lives, passed away at age 79.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/1...-simpson-obit/

Thank you Mr. Simpson, several of your products protected me during a shunt. Enjoy racing in Paradise.

 

Dam, a man with a vision that saved countless lives in the racing community rip .

 

^^ ,,, well, I don't like it but thanks Mic for bringing it to our attention!

 

Reading a bio yesterday and learned a few things - after breaking both his arms while drag racing at age 18 he was the first person to install a parachute on his drag car, he placed 13th at the '74 Indy 500, and he was inducted into the SEMA hall of fame before I was even born! RIP

 

Bill Simpson deserves his place in motorsports heaven! His innovative developments have made the sport safer for those of us who've followed him.

 

As I was thinking about this, I started to reminisce about the varied safety equipment I used over the years for both street and race duty... a number of Simpson products. My first helmet wasn't a Simpson, it was a Bell, bought for drag racing (who didn't have a Bell back in those days? Haha.) But when I moved over to road racing, I needed a differently rated helmet so at the start of the 1979 race season, I bought one of the first RX-1 helmets (later renamed the Model 30). You know the one.... the "Star Wars helmet" that cost about half of my motor build. (Not really but it wasn't cheap!) Turns out it actually wasn't that comfortable for me but man, it LOOKED fantastic in fashionable black! Not a smart choice for use in open cars which mine were. Despite improved ventilation, it got hot in there! Hahahaha.

Throughout my "road racing career" - ha, all of 2.5 years - I also used a Simpson fire suit, belts/harnesses and will credit their 5-pt harness system for keeping me in the car when I went off track in my roadster.

After I "retired" to go back to school (and with a wrecked race car in the garage and later, my totaled 280Z at the body shop), the only thing I kept after all that was a solitary 3" Simpson lap belt that was the easiest and quickest thing to remove from the bent Z while at the body shop, headed for the wrecker. Kept that belt as a reminder for many years until it got tossed out by my ex-wife.

The moral of the story: There isn't one. But, will say this... buy a helmet based on comfort and practicality, not looks. The more I think back, that helmet just wasn't comfortable for my fat head. Hahahahahaha.....