Press Release Downloads & Story Ideas...
Two New Programs - Get Steering Wheels Converted Overnight
The Steering Wheel Guy, Ed Dellis, has several Programs to put properly molded grips into the hands of drivers...literally, overnight.
This website was completely overhauled to administer these programs after learning that the greatest number of hand/wrist injuries in the entire history of IndyCar occurred in 2013. Interestingly, ALL-BUT-TWO DRIVERS used molded steering wheels, but NONE were designed by Ed Dellis.
Download Hi-Res Wheel Sample Photo HERE.
Download Hi-Res Shifter Sample Photo HERE.
Custom Grips for ANY Steering Wheel and Shifter
Costa Mesa, CA -- The new Tuner Program by The Steering Wheel Guy, Ed Dellis, lets you design your own steering wheel grips from anywhere in the world by answering just three questions online, and providing a YouTube or cell phone video of your hands interacting on the steering wheel.
This website was completely overhauled to administer these programs after learning that the greatest number of hand/wrist injuries in the entire history of IndyCar occurred in 2013. Interestingly, ALL-BUT-TWO DRIVERS used molded steering wheels, but NONE were designed by Ed Dellis.
Download Hi-Res Wheel Sample Photo HERE.
Download Hi-Res Shifter Sample Photo HERE.
Custom Grips for ANY Steering Wheel and Shifter
Costa Mesa, CA -- The new Tuner Program by The Steering Wheel Guy, Ed Dellis, lets you design your own steering wheel grips from anywhere in the world by answering just three questions online, and providing a YouTube or cell phone video of your hands interacting on the steering wheel.
Photo Credit: Brad Fulton
Med-Res ULTRA-High Res Photo Credit: Brad Fulton
Med-Res ULTRA-High Res Dellis' own Steering Wheel in his Lister Corvette #007 Test Car.
Hi-Res What is the "Tale of Two Dales" Story?
It's the story about Dale Earnhardt & Dale Jarrett...and PersonaGrip. Earnhardt felt he deserved to be sponsored before using the PersonaGrip wheel, but Dellis decided against it at the last minute after making his wheel and engraving Dale's name on the back. Two weeks later, Dale Jarrett called Dellis and told him he'd broken his left wrist and finger, and wondered if Dellis could make him a wheel so he could just do a couple laps after the start without being too much pain. DJ would go on to WIN the race -- after qualifying dead last in the Interstate Ford -- with the wheel which was modified to accommodate his injuries based on information gathered over the phone. Joe Gibbs kept the wheel when DJ left the team, and when one of the Labonte brothers broke his finger, Gibbs told him to use "DJ's" wheel. Result? The wheel ended up on the podium again. What is the story behind Serial #001? The wheel Emerson Fittipaldi used to win the Indy 500 in '93 was Serial #001. During the Victory Banquet, the wheel was stolen, and it ended up making national news in USA Today newspaper. In a private meeting at the next race in Milwaukee, Roger Penske, Rick Mears, Dan Luginbuhl, and Dellis figured out who did it, but agreed never to disclose their identity. Dellis would later make Emerson 10 more wheels over the next few years. Who discovered the wheels in professional racing? Dellis was leading the classroom at the Bobby Rahal TrackTime Driving Schools in '93. During dinner at a Car & Driver magazine interview in Ohio, Dellis pulled out a hammer handle wrapped in the PersonaGrip material, and simply placed it on the table in front of Rahal. Bobby who immediately picked it up, felt it and insisted it gets tried on his IndyCar wheel. When Dellis arrived in Long Beach to modify his wheel, Dellis told Bobby that he had to cut the wheel down, or else it would feel too thick. Rahal balked and allowed Dellis to only wrap it over the existing suede grip material. As a result, after initial evaluation Dellis had to remove the PersonaGrip material , and it would be Indy in '93 before Fittipaldi let Dellis cut his first pro steering wheel. Who else used the wheel in the '93 Indy 500 race debut? As of this writing, Dellis had five wheels in the '93 Indy 500: Emerson Fittipaldi, Danny Sullivan, Willy T. Ribbs, Lyn St. James, and Eddie Cheever. What are the new Patent-Pending Safety Features? The patent-pending safety features are designed to reduce the risk of drivers breaking their fingers on impacts when the wheel whips instantly to full lock. Blisters can also be prevented by new wing, flute, and flange designs. Paddle shifters are also more securely accessed with new grip shapes. Has it been used on the water? The Bud Light-sponsored Formula One boats of Bill and Mike Seebold brought PersonaGrip to the series. Dave Villwock drove the Miss Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane and lost two fingers in a horrific crash. Dellis was flown to Seattle where he modified Villwock's steering wheel to accommodate his injuries. Dave later commented to a USA Today reporter that the boat was in fact easier to drive with his PersonaGrip molded steering wheel. The reporter included Dave's quote in his story but, incorrectly added "...Villwock says, jokingly." He was't joking, but the claim seemed unbelievable. In fact, EMG tests prove that it takes less than half the effort (54% less) to turn a steering wheel when PersonaGrip is properly molded. |
Inventor Quotes "Feeling is Believing"
"The poorly designed custom grips done by teams on steering wheels that you see in racing today are breaking fingers and causing blisters...but it doesn't have to be that way." "Drivers don't even know they need a custom grip since they think it's for comfort only...physics and the Friction Circle tell a different story." "Ever since birth, we begin to associate higher grip tension with more control....but not anymore. By building up leveraging surfaces that stick up off the wheel, drivers can relax their grips and actually have BETTER control. " "Drivers actually have MORE control with a relaxed grip because the extra tension in their forearms when using a normal wheel blocks the steering feedback resistance which follows a bell curve and defines how much traction's available under the front tires." "Since it's the new paradigm, drivers don't even know they need it....until they've tried one." "It took me half the season to get Bobby Rahal to try it again after he rejected the first wheel I did for him in Long Beach. He didn't let me cut the wheel to keep it from getting too thick, so I had to put it on top of the suede. BUT, when he finally did try it and I came back to sort the initial mold in his garage, he approached me so fast I didn't know what to expect. He yelled, "Man, those grips are GREAT!" It was the perfect I-told-you-so moment, but I just focused on sorting his first mold. Bobby would end up being my best customer, and even put me on the team in '95." "My biggest challenge is always getting people to avoid evaluating the program based on the design I carried as my sample that day. When drivers and teams saw the sample, they'd evaluate it based on that one design....which was just one version." "My second biggest challenge was trying to explain to gifted drivers why it worked using the Friction Circle and Mu-Slip curve concepts in just three minutes. My graduating thesis for my engineering degree was based on it, so I had a handle on it. But a lot of these guys were fast and didn't know why...they just had a good feel for driving." "Another challenge is how simple it looks to make a custom-handgrip on a steering wheel. Everyone thinks, 'How hard can it possibly be?' Well, with patents now expired, recent history proves what I've said all along....that it takes a LOT of practice to learn the nuances of steering wheel grip design so it doesn't hurt drivers, and helps them get better control." This was proved recently when IndyCar called Dellis and asked him to attend the Long Beach IndyCar race to inspect the teams' wheels. Dellis modified a few wheels after some potentially harmful designs were discovered. What is the Industrial Ergonomics Program?
NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) tested PersonaGrip on Nov. 22nd, 1994, and the standard university test procedures revealed significant reductions in grip effort. (54% / 43.5%, sliding and twisting, respectively). If a worker can be trained with a new grip on a tool to fall below the threshold that puts him/her at risk in the high-grip force category, then they can maintain operating with the high-repetition risk factor present on an assembly line, and effectively achieve a TEN-FOLD reduction in risk for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (all other factors being equal, of course)...this is according to a NIOSH research project by Armstrong, Silverstein, and Fine in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11: 343-358, (1987). With run-away health care costs taking jobs, PersonaGrip now has a proven link to bringing jobs back to America when it is implemented and used properly. What does the New Paradigm mean for grips? Ever since birth, we get programmed to associate higher grip tension with more control when trying to hold something. So, over your entire life, you've been rewarded with positive results with this association. PersonaGrip changes all this. Instead of increasing grip tension, properly molded PersonaGrips on steering wheels allow users to RELAX THEIR GRIP AND ACTUALLY IMPROVE CONTROL. This new way of thinking qualifies as a new paradigm since an entirely new mind set must be used when trying to do something that you've taken for granted your whole life under a different set of rules. I think, therefore, PersonaGrip... Let's get started. #### How can I get one? Contact Steering Wheel Guy, Ed Dellis ed (at) steeringwheelguy.com or call (seven one four) 342-3020 during normal business hours, Pacific Time Zone (GMT -8:00). ### |