Drag-Boat Drivers Blame Irvine Lake Course for Girl’s Death

The drag-boat accident that killed 9-year-old Brandy Branchflower Sunday at Irvine Lake raised new criticism of the lake’s safety and the National Drag Boat Assn.’s handling of races there.

Some of the loudest critics have been the drivers themselves.

Driver Mel Kirby said the course was terrible, in not so kind words. “There’s no room for error. You don’t have any time to react to a mistake or if something goes wrong mechanically.”

Which is what apparently happened to the boat driven by Jim Lange, who was forced onto the shore and into the crowd.

Driver Dennis Serber was sitting in his boat as Lange passed. He said he saw him trying to force the boat off to the left--away from the shore and the crowd--but the boat would not react.

“You could see him turning the wheel all the way to the left but he was out of control,” Serber said. “It wasn’t his fault. There was just no room for him.”

Serber said one of the reasons for the short stopping distance was the lake’s low water level. He estimated its volume at three-quarters empty.

“It seems that they always set this course up wrong,” he said. “There’s not enough shut-down space to slow down and they’re running directly into the wind.”

Serber, who has been racing the NDBA circuit since 1979, said he ranked Irvine at the bottom of all of the NDBA-sanctioned courses.

This is the second time in three years that a boat has gone into the spectator area. On April 9, 1983, Randy Au crashed into a crowded bank, injuring three, including a pregnant woman. It also marks the third death in the same period. Drivers Barry Zenovka (1983) and Jim Hobbs (1984) died when their boats overturned.

“I bet there have been more accidents, more injuries and more deaths on this course in the last three years than all the other ones combined.” Serber said.

However, NDBA counsel Tom Indovina says that neither the lake nor the NDBA was at fault for any of those accidents.

“We’ve determined that those accidents were caused by driver error,” he said. “When we map out a course, we think about safety first. It’s ridiculous to say there wasn’t enough room to shut down. This is the same course we had yesterday and we had no problems.”

Drivers have not approved of the NDBA’s policy of changing the course for each event. They feel it is unsafe.

“When you race at Firebird in Phoenix or Chowchilla, you know what the course is going to be like,” Serber said. “Here, you don’t know what you’ll be driving until you get out there.”

There have been 11 accidents since drag boats started competing at Irvine Lake in 1982.

“There’s no identifiable problem,” said retired driver Eddie Hill. “It seemed like there were always a lot of problems when I raced there. I don’t know what it was.”

Drivers have suggested ways to improve the lake’s conditions, but since there isn’t a drivers association, they say many of their suggestions go unheeded.

“I’ve always felt they shouldn’t allow people that close to the water and the boats,” driver Mike Fetterman said. “And certainly, I think they should keep young kids away.”

Fences have been used to keep crowds away, but they have been unsuccessful.

“The people who come out here want to be close enough to bite the boats,” said Rinaldo Sanchez, who was sitting just a few feet away from where Lange’s boat came ashore.

“There’s no way you’re going to keep these people back,” Fetterman said. “Half of them come just to see us crash.”

Au’s accident occurred on a Saturday in 1983. Spurred by the subsequent publicity, the next day’s attendance was estimated at 20,000, the largest for any boat race at the lake.

“We resent the advertising they (NDBA) use,” Fetterman said. “They show boats crashing and boats turning over. They just can’t show some hometown kid winning a race. They know the way to draw people in is to show them a crash.”

Sunday’s final rounds were canceled because of rain and strong winds. The 32 drivers who qualified for Sunday’s second round split the $30,000 in prize money.

Driver Dan Fitzgerald: “This is the kind of thing a driver has nightmares about. I don’t know if it could have been avoided, but I know Jim Lange would have rather hurt himself than that little girl. In this type of situation, I guess there’s nothing you can do.”