Video Alleges Earnhardt’s Seat Belt Cut

The maker of the seat belt used in Dale Earnhardt’s car said a fan has come forward with video showing Earnhardt being cut from the seat belt.

Bill Simpson, founder and chairman of Simpson Performance Products, told ESPN radio that a fan sent him a video of the crash that killed Earnhardt in the Daytona 500.

“Since this whole thing has surfaced and since NASCAR did their press conference, there’s a spectator that has come forward with videotape and it clearly shows an EMT [emergency medical technician] getting into the car with a knife--and that’s what it looked like to me--like it had been cut,” Simpson said. “I have a copy of it now and it’s out being enhanced at the moment.”

After the Feb. 18 crash, NASCAR reported that a broken seat belt was discovered in Earnhardt’s car. The news resulted in at least one racing team dropping Simpson as a supplier, and angry racing fans sent Simpson death and bomb threats.

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Nicolas Minassian, one of the CART drivers hoping to make the field for the Indianapolis 500, was injured when he crashed in practice during a rookie orientation session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Minassian, who was wearing a head and neck support device, complained of neck and right wrist pain after the crash.

The car came out of the fourth turn and skidded down the front straightaway. It hit the inside wall in front of pit row, bounced across the track and hit the outside wall before rolling to a stop a few hundred yards from the start-finish line.

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Kevin Harvick turned a lap of 159.678 mph in his Chevrolet at the new 1.33-mile tri-oval Nashville Superspeedway to win the pole for today’s NASCAR Busch Series Pepsi 300 at Gladeville, Tenn.

Football

Charlie Garner, a free-agent running back who has rushed for at least 1,000 yards the last two seasons, signed a four-year contract with the Oakland Raiders. Garner is an eight-year veteran who spent the last two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, who were strapped by the salary cap. Garner’s signing eases the loss of Napoleon Kaufman, who retired earlier this week.

The NFL reinstated Tennessee Titan defensive tackle Josh Evans after he served a one-year suspension for violating the league’s drug policy for the third time, agent Mitchell Frankel said. Evans, 28, had been suspended for the first four games of the 1999 season after a second violation.

John Carney’s 11-year run as kicker for the San Diego Chargers might be over. The Chargers signed 49er restricted free agent Wade Richey to an offer sheet. The 49ers have a week to match the offer or lose Richey.

Denver signed free agent tackle Todd Fordham, the third offensive lineman signed by the Broncos in two weeks. . . . R.C. Owens, the first 1,000-yard receiver for the 49ers, will retire today after 23 years as an executive with the organization.

Tennis

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario stunned top-seeded Martina Hingis, 6-2, 6-4, at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla., for only her second victory in 17 meetings against Hingis. Sanchez Vicario advanced to the semifinals to play sixth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, who moved on when third-seeded Elena Dementieva was unable to play in their quarterfinal after tearing a tendon on the bottom of her left foot.

Sanchez-Vicario also moved to the semifinals in the doubles draw, teaming with 44-year-old Martina Navratilova for a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-1 victory over Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paula Suarez.

Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters Series, a day after Andre Agassi withdrew citing exhaustion. Sampras is sick and Hewitt has an arm injury, tournament spokesman Lucien Platano said.

Names in the News

Olympic champion Bill Johnson has come out of a coma in his slow recovery from a devastating skiing crash three weeks ago in Montana.

“He is waking up,” Dr. Molly Hoeflich said at Providence Medical Center in Portland, Ore., where the 1984 downhill gold medalist is a patient.

Mighty Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere was added to Canada’s world hockey championships roster. Giguere joins goalies Roberto Luongo of Florida and Fred Brathwaite of Calgary on the roster for the April 28-May 14 championships in Germany.

Jay Miller, a member of the Indiana Pacers’ first ABA championship team in 1970, died April 5 of a heart attack in Tempe, Ariz. He was 57.

University of Washington defensive lineman Ossim Hatem, who was hospitalized for treatment of a blood clot in his chest, is unlikely to return to the team next fall. . . . Brad Soderberg, let go last month by Wisconsin after taking over as basketball coach early last season, was hired by Saint Louis as an assistant.

Miscellany

American Indian activists cheered a federal civil rights panel’s call for an end to Indian team names and mascots at non-Indian schools, colleges and universities. The recommendation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights does not carry the weight of law, but activists saw it as an endorsement of their efforts.

Hundreds of teams still use names such as Indians and Braves, but several school districts, colleges and universities have changed team names at the urging of Indian groups.

The civil rights commission did not include professional sports teams in the statement.

The FBI returned four baseballs signed by U.S. presidents William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Hall spokesman Jeff Idelson said. The balls had been stolen in 1972.

The Fresno Falcons defeated the Ice Dogs, 5-0, at Fresno to even their first-round West Coast Hockey League playoff series at 1-1. Game 3 of the best-of-five series is tonight at the Long Beach Arena.