This letter is based on facts and I am writing it to hopefully save anyone from incurring great bodily harm in the event of a fire. A lot of speculation has been going around concerning the safty of the Impact suit. Impact owner Bill Simpson states in his press release (quote) " There Is Not A Question As To The Safety, Dependability And Quality Of Your Fire Suit Or Drag Boot " (end quote). This is not an accurate statement as Impact was notified that an SFI-15 and a SFI-20 suit failed to meet the proper SFI specs. Judge for yourself if you would trust your life to wearing Impact products after reading this letter. I recieved an SFI-15 suit from Impact in early 2008. When the suit arrived it seemed awful thin and I questioned weather it was safe and would meet SFI specs, so I called Impact and they assured me it was fine as they said the new lightweight materials make it possible to make the suits thinner and lighter. Being reassured of its safty I raced a Top Alcohol Dragster for half a season until July. I than had a month off of racing and decided to send my suit back to Impact as I was still questioning the suits fire retardant ability. Impact said they would cut the suit open and check the construction and layers of the suit. Several days later they called me back and said the suit checked out OK and was being sent back to me. I than wore the suit the rest of the season. At the end of 2008 I decided to get it checked by SFI and the suit did not meet SFI specs. Impact claims to be dedicated to keeping racers safe, but I feel if Bill Simpson wanted to do this he would have the decency to step up and admit the mistakes made and put out a full blown attempt to contact all suit owners by calling them and also putting a full page ad in National Dragster and having NHRA put out a press release. But instead he seems to have a strong hold over NHRA and SFI because no one is saying anything and everyone is trying to keep this as low keyed as possible. This tells me a lot about Bill Simpson as a person. He does the opposite as he claims in his portfolio. It seems to me he would rather take the chance of someone being hurt in a fire because of a defective product he put out, ( Twice In My Case ) than to hurt his reputation and do the right thing to make sure all of the suits get taken out of use immediatly. Impact says on there web site 36 suits that were sent in met the required specs, implying to me that there is not a problem. Why don't they tell everyone about the number of suits that are sent to them and not meeting SFI certifications standards and also about the suits that are sitting at the SFI testing lab that failed like mine and will never be returned to me and nothing being done or said about it. I am very disappointed with the way Impact, SFI and NHRA have reacted to this situation. I look at most of the people we race with as family and will do what ever I feel necessary to keep them informed and protected. I am sure some people will scrutinize me for this article, but just put yourself in my shoes or pretend your wife, husband or child had purchased this suit and was in a severe fire and got hurt or killed because of Impacts lack of responsibility. Remember this suit was checked and sent out " Not Once But Twice ". A funny car driver with an SFI-20 suit has had a simular experience to mine and hoefully will come on line to share his story. I personally would never buy anything from Impact again as they have proved to me over and over again that there product is not safe and they are not trust worthy. It would be nice for a change if everyone that responds to this article would use there real names as I have. I apologize for the lengthiness of this letter. Division 5 Top Alcohol Dragster, Richard Putz ( also posted on Inside Top Alcohol under Pit Buzz ).
Impact SFI-15 and SFI-20 Firesuit Fail SFI Testing (1 Viewer)
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"Dr. Dirt"
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Welcome to the Mater Richard. I wish it could have been under better circumstances but welcome nonetheless.
RAPID
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Richard, sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope something gets done about it,,,soon.
Rapid
Rapid
elvis
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Anybody get the feeling this topic is going to get blitzed?
yoda
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I think those that it directly affected have resolved any issues. Anyone that USES one of these suits is already informed about what's going on.
Some things don't really need to apply to internet chat rooms.
topdigger
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Haven't had a chance to send min in yet since they called me and asked to send it in (it is 4.5 hrs away from me right now).But WOW I was so excited that my -20 was so lightweight with the "new materials" Great! Kind of funny as I was watching the race last weekend and looking at the racers their suits seemed a bit thicker .HMMMM ? Can't wait to see what they say about mine.
dave
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I think I also remember some mention of Doug K having a new suit that was thicker, and it may have caused him to be uncomfortable and double step the gas pedal. I believe he wears Impact. I myself have always worn Deist stuff, its hard to beat.
willy
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So what's the deal here?? Bill is a racer's friend..always has been.
Putz's story is a little disturbing..and I hope things are getting squared away..now that Bill is back in the saddle.
Putz's story is a little disturbing..and I hope things are getting squared away..now that Bill is back in the saddle.
Ya i doubt the suit was the reason for that mistake.... seems a little bit of a stretch to come up with an excuse. Anyway, Impact makes a great product that you can rely on; i rock their helmets and it seems to be a great product. Except the one time it was too tight and uncomfortable and made me red light becuase i wanted to get it off immediantly.... come on now
For those of you who wanted me to keep you updated on events happening, There is an interesting post on the site (Inside Top Alcohol) under "pit buzz" about a guy that had a fire and what his experience was, it is under my post with the little red mad face icon on it. I will keep you posted. Richard Putz
Iron Mike
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The new lightweight suits from Impact still have nomex on the outside when you buy them. Carbon X is only available in Black. So Impact uses nomex which melts off, but it can be in a pretty color, before it is destroyed.
My System 500 suit is Black because all 4 layers are Carbon X. They build them in Seattle and you can go there and see them being built. He will even repair a suit if an arm got burned or it gets ripped somehow. Try getting a suit with a rip in it repaired at Simpson or Impact.
I had a fire in the altered I race last year, it was a small fire, however it burned the left side seatbelt off and it did burn the paint off the inside of the seat. It did not even singe the firesuit. Get a System 500 suit and be safe, maybe not as pretty but definitely safe. (my suit was shipped to me in a 1 foot square box, yes it is light) I am glad the mysterious driver is ok. I did call a friend racing at Bakersfield and he said he had a small fire. I asked what they had to do to fix it and he said get a new firesuit.
Mike Hilsabeck
My System 500 suit is Black because all 4 layers are Carbon X. They build them in Seattle and you can go there and see them being built. He will even repair a suit if an arm got burned or it gets ripped somehow. Try getting a suit with a rip in it repaired at Simpson or Impact.
I had a fire in the altered I race last year, it was a small fire, however it burned the left side seatbelt off and it did burn the paint off the inside of the seat. It did not even singe the firesuit. Get a System 500 suit and be safe, maybe not as pretty but definitely safe. (my suit was shipped to me in a 1 foot square box, yes it is light) I am glad the mysterious driver is ok. I did call a friend racing at Bakersfield and he said he had a small fire. I asked what they had to do to fix it and he said get a new firesuit.
Mike Hilsabeck
Tony
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Even though I've spent the last 12 years as a firefighter I can say that getting burnt scares the heck out of me (I've been very close but God willing I will never get any closer). Hopefully no one gets injured seriously before this situation is resolved.
A couple of thoughts I've had on this situation are: Have you ever seen a firefighter wearing a "light" set of bunker gear? We just bought new gear for our department of 330 firefighters. While comfort and mobility were important during the testing process, no one was willing to push the edge of safety in the name of "light". We don't have to fit into a confining cockpit but we do have to be able to fit through a 14" wide and 20" tall rectangle in the wall if our egress is cut off and we're able to do so even without "light" gear.
It's seems that most racers are underinformed about SFI testing of suits. SFI doesn't test suits, they test swatches of fabric as they will be assembled in the suit. The rating given to the suit is based on the amount of time that it takes for the heat to transfer through the suit in sufficient quantity to cause second degree burns. Design of the rest of the suit is left to the manufacturer's discretion. From the SFI website, "The patch demonstrates that the manufacturer certifies the suit to meet or exceed the SFI specification."
When I bought my funny car there was no question that I would buy my firesuit from Bruce Bowler at Phoenix Custom Apparel. I spent a couple of seasons working on Bruce's A/Fuel car which was housed in the same facility he uses to construct all of his suits and it allowed me to get an inside look at how things are done there. This isn't in China by the way, it's in Colorado. While I consider Bruce a friend I wouldn't recommend his stuff, and I certainly wouldn't trust my life to it, just because he's a good guy. He's been a racer, he's lost friends in racing and he wants to make sure he doesn't lose any more. His suits aren't "light" but they do work. He'll even show you a suit in the showroom that is severely burned on the outside and unscathed on the inside with the suit cut open so you can see everything in between.
I highly recommend calling Bruce or Eric Cody at 888.215.6090 or Dennis Taylor at 800.320.2988 if you're in need of a suit. Sorry if this comes off like a commercial but it's important.
A couple of thoughts I've had on this situation are: Have you ever seen a firefighter wearing a "light" set of bunker gear? We just bought new gear for our department of 330 firefighters. While comfort and mobility were important during the testing process, no one was willing to push the edge of safety in the name of "light". We don't have to fit into a confining cockpit but we do have to be able to fit through a 14" wide and 20" tall rectangle in the wall if our egress is cut off and we're able to do so even without "light" gear.
It's seems that most racers are underinformed about SFI testing of suits. SFI doesn't test suits, they test swatches of fabric as they will be assembled in the suit. The rating given to the suit is based on the amount of time that it takes for the heat to transfer through the suit in sufficient quantity to cause second degree burns. Design of the rest of the suit is left to the manufacturer's discretion. From the SFI website, "The patch demonstrates that the manufacturer certifies the suit to meet or exceed the SFI specification."
When I bought my funny car there was no question that I would buy my firesuit from Bruce Bowler at Phoenix Custom Apparel. I spent a couple of seasons working on Bruce's A/Fuel car which was housed in the same facility he uses to construct all of his suits and it allowed me to get an inside look at how things are done there. This isn't in China by the way, it's in Colorado. While I consider Bruce a friend I wouldn't recommend his stuff, and I certainly wouldn't trust my life to it, just because he's a good guy. He's been a racer, he's lost friends in racing and he wants to make sure he doesn't lose any more. His suits aren't "light" but they do work. He'll even show you a suit in the showroom that is severely burned on the outside and unscathed on the inside with the suit cut open so you can see everything in between.
I highly recommend calling Bruce or Eric Cody at 888.215.6090 or Dennis Taylor at 800.320.2988 if you're in need of a suit. Sorry if this comes off like a commercial but it's important.
