[Adger Smith]

The car they were using was the Alston test mule. OSBI confiscated all the wreckage and equipment for their study of the accident. OSBI is like the Oklahoma version of the NTSB and FBI combined. The story I got was the belts were chafed on the 2 layer plastic seat, remember them, from all the ins and outs of the test car and the belt broke on impact. It was all because the crosswind pulled him off track. His head hit the cage bar across the windshield and he had an open faced helmet on. Lee raced at my tracks quite a lot and I even opened the track for some testing. He was not the type guy to make a pass without the belts on or his chin strap fastened. He was a person of routine, right down to unloading his car and sitting on his tailgate eating his brown bagged sandwich. Check out this link, it shows helmet & intensity
Why do you think SFI came out with the belt rules after that and a couple other incidents with the plastic seats? Also if you see those seats now the belt openings are cut with a milling tool, not a hot knife that leaves sharp edges. It is a shame we have to loose people to further the safety rules. It is also a shame we have racers that are more concerned with the money and the inconvenience the rules cause than their purpose of safety.