NASCAR Donates First-of-a-Kind Driving Simulators to the New York City Fire Department

NEW YORK--Aug. 8, 2002--New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta on Thursday announced the donation of two driving simulators from the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). The FDNY will become the first municipal fire and emergency medical response program in the country to use full scale, motion-based vehicle simulators to train fire and ambulance chauffeurs.

The simulators will be used to help train the city's Fire and EMS personnel in apparatus operations and are expected to help improve response times, reduce accidents and resulting injuries and, ultimately, help save lives.

"The driving simulators will have a major, long-term positive impact on both the emergency response system in New York City, and the people and property the Fire Department is sworn to protect," said Commissioner Scoppetta. "We are grateful to NASCAR for helping make this a reality."

The announcement was made at a press conference today in New York at the FDNY Engine 23 firehouse on West 58th Street. Dignitaries in attendance included FDNY Commissioner Scoppetta; FDNY Citywide Tour Commander, Chief Joseph Callan; NASCAR President Mike Helton and NASCAR champion driver Jeff Gordon.

The donation addresses a need stemming from the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 in which over 100 FDNY-trained chauffeurs perished. The FDNY worked with NASCAR to identify a specific need that had gone unmet through previous monetary contributions and determined that driver training simulators would have a significant benefit to the department.

"We knew that it would take time for the full breadth of the city's needs to become known and understood after last September," said NASCAR President Mike Helton. "The FDNY agreed with us, and waited to see where it made the most sense for us to step in. We hope the driving simulators will have long-lasting benefits to all New Yorkers."

The company building the driving simulators, FAAC, Inc., of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will contribute a portion of proceeds from additional simulators sold to municipalities across the country to the FDNY Fire Safety Education Fund (FSEF).