Russell Lawsuit Synopsis

By Kay Burk
7/28/05

n July 7, 2005, Julie Russell, widow of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell, filed suit in the District Court of Comal County, Texas, against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the National Hot Rod Association and Simpson Helmets, Inc.

Darrell Russell was fatally injured in an on-track accident June 27, 2004, at the NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, IL. The lawsuit alleges that a faulty tire was responsible for the accident and that Darrell's helmet did not protect him properly.

Drag Racing Online received a copy of the petition and will give a short synopsis of the major allegations in the 15-page document. Goodyear and NHRA have been accused of negligence, fraud, and civil conspiracy. Goodyear and Simpson have been accused of manufacture of defective products. The petition includes a request for a jury trial.

GOODYEAR and NHRA

At the time of this incident, Goodyear was the sole provider of tires for Top Fuel dragsters under exclusive agreement with the NHRA. In order to perform their job, the professional racecar drivers had to use the tires Goodyear and NHRA represented as safe and without defect. The petition, presented by Russell's lawyer, John T. Simpson, Jr., states, "Teams and drivers were placed in a position of using Goodyear tires or finding another career to provide for their families."

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In the petition, Julie Russell claims that Goodyear and NHRA represented the Goodyear model 2096 tire to be safe when both should have known that not to be the case because of well-documented chunking problems, and that both forced the race teams to continue using only that model tire after team members had voiced their concerns for safety.

The petition alleges that Goodyear did insufficient testing of the tire, which was four to six pounds heavier than its predecessor, before introducing it and that the NHRA did not properly investigate the safety of the tire or require adequate documentation from Goodyear before making it the only tire legal for use.

According to the petition, Goodyear presented its new 2096 model tire on March 18, 2004, in Gainesville, Florida. Its use was not mandatory and it was used on only a few runs by selected teams for the next month, getting minimal on-track experience. On April 24, 2004, in Bristol, Tennessee, Goodyear and NHRA mandated the use of the 2096 model tire by all Top Fuel teams. Over the next three days, there were more than a dozen instances of tire malfunction. Three weeks later, Goodyear and NHRA mandated the use of a new version of the 2096 which allegedly had reinforced sidewalls. The petition alleges that the new version of the tire had been tested only two times prior to requiring its use, and those tests had been limited to Funny Cars not Top Fuel dragsters. "This lack of testing was never disclosed to any team representatives, drivers or crew chiefs prior to the mandatory use of the tire."

The petition alleges that the "monopoly atmosphere" between NHRA and Goodyear "limited testing and development of adequate safety standards" and failed to allow alternative tires to be used for Top Fuel dragster competition.

The petition alleges that representations that Goodyear and NHRA made to the Russells about the tires "were false. Furthermore, when Defendant Goodyear and/or Defendant NHRA made the representations they knew the representations were false or made the representations as a positive assertion without knowledge of their truth. Defendant Goodyear and/or Defendant NHRA made the representations; and, the representations caused Darrell's death."