Firm Scuttles Boat Racing at Irvine Lake

Drag boat races will be banned at Irvine Lake, where a speedboat veered into a shoreline crowd last month, killing a 9-year-old girl, the Irvine Co., owner of the land adjacent to to the Orange County lake, announced Friday.

C. Bradley Olson, president of the Irvine Community Development Co., a division of the Irvine Co., said the leaseholders for operating recreational activities at the lake had been notified by letter of the firm’s decision.

Olson said that under the 1980 agreement with the Irvine Boat and Tackle Co., which sponsored The Coors Championships race on April 21 in which the child was killed, the Irvine Co. has a “unilateral right” to cancel any scheduled boat race on 45 days notice.

‘Terrible Tragedy’

“What happened was a terrible tragedy,” Olson said. “We never want to see it happen again. In our view, the only way this can be assured is by not allowing any more drag boat races.”

Brandy Branchflower of Burbank was killed when a hydroplane-style drag boat driven by Jim Lange of Simi Valley went out of control and veered into the shoreline, striking the child. One other person was injured.

The death was the third in recent years involving drag boat racing on the lake. Two boat drivers were killed in accidents in 1983 and 1984. Five people have been injured in accidents.

Douglas Elliot and Bill Andrews, operators of Irvine Boat and Tackle, were out of town and unavailable for comment Friday.

Georgia Branchflower, mother of the dead child, also declined to comment on the announcement when reached at home.

Olson said Friday’s action was taken in order to comply with the terms of the contract before another National Drag Boat Assn.-sanctioned event--the June 22-23, Grand Prix of Drag Boat race was scheduled to be run on the lake.

Association drivers said cancellation of races at Irvine will hurt the sport’s commercial success. Similar races at Long Beach’s Marine Stadium were previously banned because of excessive noise.

“I don’t see how they (the drag boat association) can survive without a place in Southern California,” said Eddie Hill of Wichita Falls, Tex., a retired drag boat racer. “I think this is another nail on the NDBA’s coffin. It will be hard for them to survive without Southern California.”

Tim Morgan of Walnut, who competed in last month’s race at Irvine, said the decision was unjustified.

“I think they’re being a little harsh with their punishment. I guess they felt they had to do something, but this isn’t going to bring that little girl back,” he said.

No Barrier

However, another racer, Ted Faggart of Porterville, Calif., said the race sponsors had failed to provide a barrier to protect watchers from runaway boats.

“I don’t think there was any question there should have been a barrier to keep the crowd back,” he said. “But they need someone to get killed before they realize they have to do something about safety. I think the whole thing could have been prevented.”