Bill Simpson, race car driver and founder of Simpson Racing Products, has died. He was 79 years old.

Simpson was born in Hermosa Beach, California on March 14th, 1940. He spent his early career racing drag cars and formula cars in SCCA, before moving up to the USAC Championship Car series in 1968. He would race there up until 1977, with 52 career starts. He even qualified for the 1974 Indianapolis 500, finishing a respectable 13th.

Simpson is best known for his innovations in racing safety. He was the first to introduce parachutes to drag racing cars after a 1958 incident left him with two broken arms at 18 years old. The design would later be implemented by drag legend Don Garlits, before seeing widespread use. Around a decade later, Simpson met NASA astronaut Pete Conrad, who introduced him to the fire-retardant material Nomex. Simpson was the first to see the value in introducing the material to racing, as death due to fire and extreme heat were common in the sport at the time. He created the first fire suit designed for drivers. The photo above shows Simpson in one of his suits lighting himself on fire to prove its effectiveness.

If you've even been to a race track or watched a race on TV, chances are you've seen Simpson's products. The brand is synonymous with racing, offering racing helmets, shoes, gloves, and pretty much anything else you can think of to keep drivers protected. It's safe to say Simpson has left an immeasurable impact on the sport and saved countless lives thanks to his innovations. His efforts were enough to get him inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003.



According to Racer, Simpson suffered a stroke on Friday, December 13th, before passing away on Monday. He will be sorely missed.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io