Orders Refunds To All Impact Racing Customers
Racers using Impact Racing safety equipment will need to make significant changes within the next month.
The SFI Foundation, Inc., which certifies safety equipment for auto racing and other applications, has issued a “Notice of Decertification,” and an order of Cease and Desist, which terminates all contracts of participation to Impact Racing.
The order goes into effect April 27, 2010. The order pertains to all products manufactured and/or distributed by Impact Racing in relation to SFI Specification Programs 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1 and 16.5.
According to a statement by the SFI Foundation on its Web site, SFI has evidence that over a period of years Impact Racing has engaged in production and use of counterfeit SFI conformance labels and patches and affixed them to Impact products that had not been properly certified by SFI. According to the statement, “Impact Racing never advised its customers that its products contained phony SFI labels and patches.”
As well, SFI has “directed Impact to immediately notify all affected customers to remove the counterfeit labeling and to offer the affected customers a full refund of the purchase price. SFI is requesting that all counterfeit conformance labels removed from Impact products be sent to SFI.”
SFI will terminate all contracts of participation with Impact Racing after 90 days from March 24, 2010. As a result, Impact will not be able to participate in any SFI programs after 90 days.
Impact Racing is owned and operated by former racer Bill Simpson, who built Simpson safety equipment into the sport’s leading safety company until selling it several years ago following the controversy surrounding his lawsuit against NASCAR after Dale Earnhardt’s 2001 death at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
The SFI Foundation, Inc. (SFI) is a non-profit organization established to issue and administer standards for specialty-performance automotive and racing equipment.
Many sanctioning bodies utilize SFI certifications as standards in order to compete in events under that group’s organization. In addition, some racing insurance policies require participants to utilize SFI-certified safety equipment.
Representatives with Impact Racing had no comment when contacted by phone.
While the SFI statement said the counterfit labels were made in Asia, the tag line used by Impact Racing is Quality Products Built in the USA. The Impact Racing booth at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., remained operational Friday afternoon.
However, full-faced helmets were being sold for $175 and shoes for $25. According to the Impact Racing Web site, helmets range in price from $329 to $1,400 and shoes sell for $75 to $199.
Stay tuned to nationalspeedsportnews.com for additional details as they become available.
To read the complete SFI statement, log onto http://www.sfifoundation.com.
