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-AutoWeek Magazine
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TROUBLE AT IMPACT
An organization that tests and certifies the safety qualities of racing equipment will decertify Impact Racing's equipment and end its relationships with its founder, Bill Simpson. The action becomes effective on April 27, giving Impact's customers time to buy equipment from other manufacturers.
SFI has accused Impact of manufacturing substandard equipment then attaching counterfeit conformance labels and patches. To SFI's knowledge, Impact didn't advise customers that its products didn't have legitimate labels and patches. SFI has directed Impact and Simpson to cease and desist from this practice, notify its customers to remove the counterfeit labels, and offer them a full refund.
Impact Racing responded with a statement on its Web site: "Impact strongly disagrees with the statements on SFI's website. This is a dispute over SFI tags. Our products are certified. They are safe, and we stand behind them." "
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/...equipment.html
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. – SFI Foundation Inc., the non-profit organization established to administer safety standards for automotive and racing equipment, announced Friday it was decertifying all products manufactured and/or distributed by Impact Racing.
Many teams in NASCAR utilize safety equipment from Impact, including Kevin Harvick Inc., and drivers Kyle Busch, David Reutimann and Trevor Bayne, among others. IndyCar series and NHRA teams also utilize many of the company’s products.
NASCAR became affiliated with SFI Foundation in 2003 and began using its testing services and quality assurances for safety products used in its three national series – the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck series.
NASCAR issued a statement late Friday that said in part, “This is a matter now in the legal system, which we are monitoring.”
Impact was founded by Bill Simpson, a pioneer in the racing safety business who formerly headed Simpson Performance Products. He left that company after the controversy surrounding the Dale Earnhardt's death in a 2001 crash late in the Daytona 500.
In Friday’s release, SFI Foundation said all Impact products would be decertified as of April 27.
“Evidence obtained by SFI shows that over a period of years Impact Racing has engaged in the production and use of counterfeit SFI conformance labels and patches and affixed them to Impact products for use in motorsports,” the statement said.
Officials at Impact’s headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind., did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "
