Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Mayfield’s lap belt damaged during Dover race

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001 | 9:07 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

NASCAR officials announced Monday they discovered a partially torn lap belt in the car driven by Jeremy Mayfield following his accident Sunday in the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 Winston Cup race at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Officials found the damaged left lap belt during the standard post-accident review of the car. The lap belt apparently "dumped" at some point during the accident, NASCAR said in a release. The act of dumping occurs when the seat belt webbing is pulled or moved significantly to one side of the metal adjustment device through which the belt is threaded.

A torn left lap belt was found in Dale Earnhardt's car after his fatal accident on the final lap of the Daytona 500 in February and NASCAR's investigation into the accident revealed that "dumping" caused the belt to tear. Simpson Performance Products made the belts used by both Earnhardt and Mayfield.

NASCAR said Monday that it has "outside experts" reviewing the damaged belt and plans to offer recommendations to its teams prior to this weekend's activities at the new Kansas Speedway.

Mayfield, who briefly lost consciousness in the accident, was treated and released from a Dover hospital Sunday. He was treated for a chipped tooth and bruises on his right shoulder and side.

Like the Chicagoland Speedway that opened in July, Kansas Speedway is a moderately banked tri-oval patterned after Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which hosted its first Winston Cup race in 1998.

Jeff Gordon, who won this year's Winston Cup race at LVMS, noted the similarities between the two tracks when he tested at Kansas last month.

"There are certain parts of this track that remind me of Las Vegas, a couple that remind me of Chicago, a couple that remind me of Texas," Gordon said. "It's probably the smoothest race track we have on the circuit."

Kurt Busch, a Las Vegas native and Winston Cup rookie, agreed.

"The track is really smooth -- in fact, one of the smoothest that I have ever been on," Busch said after his test there. "It feels like a combination of my hometown track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the other new track on the circuit, Chicagoland Speedway. But out of all three, Kansas is the most racy."

Busch had been scheduled to compete in the Sept. 15 NCTS event at Texas Motor Speedway, but the race was postponed until Oct. 5 due to the terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

The series will feature "guest appearances" by top professional drivers and television, film and music celebrities. Following Wednesday's debut, a new 3-minute episode will air weekly on Fridays beginning Sept. 28 through Nov. 16th.