The first person to inquire about and use his parachute was "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. He evolved his business into a number of other safety items, such as gloves, helmets, restraints and shoes. Simpson designed NASA's first umbilical cords, where he met Pete Conrad. Conrad introduced Simpson to DuPont product Nomex in 1967. Simpson used the product to create the first fire suit to be used in racing. He took the suit to the 1967 Indianapolis 500 where it was worn by 30 of 33 drivers. Simpson had developed over 200 racing safety products, including three generations of fire suits. Simpson demonstrated the suit's effectiveness in 1987, when he was set on fire while wearing a suit. To this day, drivers in the NHRA refer to their fire suits as the "Simpson Suit," primarily due to the fact that Simpson Performance Products is synonymous with the fire suit, and also, even to this day, the Simpson name still appears on several of the fire suits, including those worn by the NHRA's Safety Safari crews.