"A driver only has one life. With a good seat, it shouldn't matter how much it costs. If you're worried about the cost of something when it comes to safety, think about it in terms of how much money you're going to make if you aren't around anymore. I'm out on the edge and I will do whatever it takes to make my cars as safe as possible. Sticking the seat in my car isn't going to be the easiest thing to do, but I only live once."
Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, tried to use the new seat during his first day of January testing at Daytona, but had comfort-related problems. He calls the PPI composite seat a work in progress.
"The way I had to sit in the car was not like what I was used to," Labonte says. "It was different for me, and whether we make some modifications to it or try to adapt it a little differently, I'm not sure what the next step is. I need the seat to be a little different, so we have to look at it more and see about modifying it somehow."
Free TestThough not by his choice or asking, Wells became concerned about safety so he did something about it. Wells spent money out of his own pocket to develop the new composite seat, but he won't say how much other than: "several hundred thousand dollars, but it's not about the money."
As a testament to his commitment to driver safety, before the 2002 season started, Wells wasn't selling his seats to other teams and drivers. He was giving them away to those who wanted to try them. Wells says as production is stepped up, he hopes the price of the seats can be lowered so local short-track racers can afford them.
"This seat was not built to be a revenue generator for PPI; it's all about driver safety," Wells says. "This new seat is something I'm very proud of, but my pursuit of safety in racing will never stop."
* Aluminum honeycomb with carbon cloth applied to both sides
* Bead foam head insert that surrounds the driver's head
* Six-point restraint system mounted directly to the seat
* Energy-dispersing bead foam body insert, custom-fitted for each driver
* Optional integrated footbox to protect lower limbs
* Standardized seat and seatbelt mounting
* Layered with Gentex to resist heat transfer to the driver
* Layered with Dyneema to resist intrusion of objects
* Cannot be modified by individual teams and drivers
* Symmetric-same protection for driver and passenger side impacts