Commentary : Drag Boat Racing: It’s About Time for Final Roar

The reasoning was difficult to understand. Peter Doyle, an attorney for the National Drag Boat Assn., stood on the banks of Irvine Lake Monday and complained to television reporters that the coverage of the association’s weekend event had been unfair.

The Sunday night newscasts dealt with the circumstances surrounding the death of a 9-year-old girl who had been run over on shore by an out-of-control drag boat. It was the third death in two years at the drag boat races at Irvine Lake.

Doyle was reluctant Monday to release more information about the crash. He acted as if he had been burned by the press after the race and didn’t want it to happen again Monday.

“I saw how you guys cut us up on the news last night,” Doyle told television reporters.

What had he expected? A rundown of the day’s winners and a short mention of an accident? Did he think that the parents of Brandy Branchflower of Burbank, who was killed, really cared who won the races?

Does anybody care?

Doyle eventually released information concerning the cause of the accident at a news conference late Monday night. But his thinking during the day represents a kind of flawed logic that seems to be perpetuated several times each year by the NDBA, an organization of volunteers. They complain often about what they perceive as the media’s failure to accentuate the positives of their sport and the tendency to instead accentuate crashes and injuries.

But does the NDBA, which takes out a full-page advertisement in the The Times with three crash pictures featuring Super Thrills and Unpredictable Spills, really have the right to criticize the coverage it gets?

Can an organization that advertises its event on television with footage of crashing boats disapprove of coverage that merely reflects the reality of the group’s own ad campaign?

The NDBA knows what attracts many fans to the sport. They tell the truth about that in their ads, and it brings fans to the lake. So why complain when the news media tell the truth after the event?

Two years ago, a boat crashed into a bank at Irvine Lake, injuring three spectators on the first day of a two-day race. The next day, attendance swelled to 20,000, the largest crowd ever to see a race at the lake.

That is a sad reflection on the sport of drag boat racing and the people it attracts. In fact, the entire sport is pretty sad.

I have covered drag boat racing at Irvine Lake for two years and have yet to see anything positive come out of a race.

There is always some form of controversy between drivers and NDBA officials. There are often arguments about the starting procedures, which are left open to human error. Fuming drivers usually hit the shore and go right after the NDBA officials with their complaints, for all the fans to see.

If they’re not arguing with the officials, drivers are usually complaining about lake conditions or an opponent’s tactics.

Yet, these problems seem insignificant compared to the ones not connected to the actual racing.

Drag boat racing seems to attract more than its share of surly fans.

For example, there was the incident two years ago when a group of fans in a pickup truck grabbed a girl by the hair and dragged her for 20 feet. The truck then ran over the girl and drove off. She suffered back injuries.

Then, at another race, a fan didn’t like a mounted security guard blocking his view. He threw a beach chair at the horse, nearly touching off a brawl.

People seem to regress to less civilized times when they mix cold beers, a hot day and drag boat racing. But the show on the lake always goes on. Racing continued Sunday even after the child had been killed. NDBA officials did not announce that someone had even killed. How sad. How insensitive.

Drag boat racing is among the most dangerous sports in the world. Most people wonder why anyone would want to risk their life in such an activity. There is little prize money, so money isn’t the motivator.

Most drivers say there is nothing matching the feeling of traveling 200 m.p.h. across water.

But when a child is killed at a race and when drivers, at the rate of about one a year, are dying in racing accidents, maybe it’s time to reconsider the value of the sport.

The NDBA said that Sunday’s accident was caused by a mechanical failure in the steering box of James Lange’s boat. Nevertheless, Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande may still revoke the drag boat racing permit from the operators of the race. A hearing is expected within three weeks.

Non-traditional sports are often called trash sports. Drag boat racing fits that description. For the sake of people’s lives, and for the sake of common sense, let’s take a new tack on this one.

Let’s trash it completely.