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Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN
No....From what I remember Darrell did not use his arm restraints when he crashed in England while demonstrating the car to a potential buyer and Lee Shepard was not wearing his harness during a Goodyear tire testing session. The wind caught his chutes when he ran a full 1/4 mile at the end of the testing day instead of his usual 60 ft and 1/8 mile passes. and the chutes spun the car sideways. It threw Lee through the windshield at approx. 180 MPH. Several have died over the years for not wearing all they should during simple testing. Don Carlton of Motown Missile and Rod Shop fame did not wear his helmet and crashed while tire testing hitting his head on the roll cage. I could go on and on but you get the idea....WEAR YOUR SAFETY EQUIPMENT even if you are just testing.
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Lee Shepherd's wife posted this on Yellow Bullet a few years back...
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Hey, y'all. Reading all the comments about Lee's death makes me realize that rumors, reliable sources or not, are just not always true. He was doing 60-foot clockings that day, but he was world champ and had previously been in an end-over-end crash in Englishtown, NY, so he would have much more concern about safety than most others. He had his seatbelts on, and tight, and his helmet was on as was his fire jacket. Stories abounded about all those not being done, but they were. Alston installed the seatbelts which were made from sub-standard materials and broke under the force of the crash. His helmet was badly cracked on his way out of the car and there were fibers from his Simpson jacket embedded in the paint on the roll bar, he hit so hard. There was nothing he could do to get the car back under control on his way down the track with the crosswind, so he pulled the chute and the car turned instantly to the right and began to flip end over end, ejecting him early in the crash. He was killed instantly, leaving a huge hole in not only the racing world, but also in the world of those who loved and cherished him in his personal life! I know all this because I am his widow and wanted to let anyone who is interested know the truth. Thank you all for the kind words....
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As for Don Carlton...Don absolutely had his helmet on at the time of his accident. I know a few people who were there that day, Don's crash was caused by dehydration, and possibly having a heat stroke. It was not a tire test, but a Chrysler sponsored test.