Stu,
On reflection, I think you are right. The story, one of many told to me
while I was at Firestone, was in this case about an undercure defect in a
Goodyear tire. (They say your memory is the second thing to go.) Of course,
Firestone is more infamous for their first radials, which had a notorious
tread separation problem.
I found the following from SpeedVision about the Goodyear settlement with
Donohue's widow.
"Over the years, legal precedent has tended to side with the concept of the
"waiver," i.e. the written admission by the signer (i.e. race driver) that
he or she is engaged in a hazardous enterprise and thereby releases the
track owners, promoters and other outside parties from liability in the
event of an accident. However, in several cases it has been
argued that while the individual race driver may have agreed to the release,
he or she cannot speak for other members of the family who might be
adversely affected by the crash. This was the case in the litigation brought
by the wife of superstar Mark Donohue following his death at the Austrian
Grand Prix in 1975. That case, settled out of court for what is believed to
be millions, named Goodyear, car owner Roger Penske, Bell Helmets, Simpson
Safety Equipment and others as being responsible for the practice crash and
subsequent head injuries that caused his death.
Clearly, there was a body of legal opinion that the wife of the late, great
driver had suffered losses that transcended any waivers her late husband
might have signed."
The Website where I got this is at:
http://www.speedvision.com/pub/articles/automotive/02inews/001121a.html
Thanks for helping me get this straight.
-----Original Message-----
From: Stu Brennan [mailto:stubrennan@mediaone.net]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 9:20 AM
To: rpalmer@ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: Strange tire problem
I just poked around the web for about 5 minutes and turned up a picture of
his F1 car in '75, and that sure looked like a big Goodyear sticker on the
front. I find it hard to believe they would be taking time to try another
brand on a race weekend, never mind the political implications.
Stu
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Palmer" <rpalmer@ucsd.edu>
To: "Stu Brennan" <stubrennan@mediaone.net>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 11:26 AM
Subject: RE: Strange tire problem
> Stu,
>
> Your recollection is basically correct. The "rest of the story", as told
to
> me by knowledgeable people at Firestone, is that Mark was testing
Firestone
> race tires and it was an undercure defect that caused the tire failure. I
> understand they paid Mark's widow a lot of money to keep this quiet. I was
> working on a method of monitoring tire cure to guarantee that tires are
> properly cured. I have a patent on the technique (U.S. Patent No. 5486319
> Microwave in situ method for rubber state-of-cure measurement)
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stu Brennan [mailto:stubrennan@mediaone.net]
> Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 4:14 AM
> To: Bob Palmer
> Subject: Re: Strange tire problem
>
>
> As I recall, Mark died in a F1 practice accident in Austria. Considering
> Roger's connections, and that Goodyear was pretty much THE tire to have
back
> then, I would be very surprised if Firestone was involved. Besides, a
> wasn't it a puncture from junk on the track, rather than a tire just
> suddenly deciding to fall to bits?
>
> Stu
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Palmer" <rpalmer@ucsd.edu>
> To: <BlueGolfer@aol.com>; "Tigers Den" <tigers@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 1:51 AM
> Subject: RE: Strange tire problem
>
>
> > Rob,
> >
> > OK Rob, I guess ...................of the rubber. Several
> > decades back, Firestone had a problem with this and had to pay out big
> $$$.
> > (Dare I mention Mark Donohue's death and Firestone tires in the same
> > paragraph?) You would think they would have learned a lesson. If you
want
> to
> > cash in big, roll your ............>
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