Irvine Co. Bans All Future Drag Boat Races on Lake

The Irvine Co., owner of the land adjacent to Irvine Lake, where a speedboat careened into a shoreline crowd last month and killed a 9-year-old girl, announced Friday it would ban drag boat races at the lake.

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

Olson said that under the agreement with the Irvine Boat and Tackle Co., which organized 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.

Brandy Branchflower of Burbank was killed when a hydroplane-style drag boat driven by Jim Lange of Simi Valley lost control, careened onto the shoreline and struck the child. The boat was traveling about 45 m.p.h. when it veered off the lake. One other person was injured in the accident. Lange was unavailable for comment.

“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.”

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

Douglas Elliot and Bill Andrews, operators of Irvine Boat and Tackle, which signed an agreement with the Irvine Co. in 1980, were on a trip to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border and unavailable for comment Friday.

Georgia Branchflower, mother of the dead child, declined to comment on the Irvine Co. announcement when reached at her Burbank home.

Olson said the Irvine Co. acted Friday in order to comply with the contract’s provision for 45 days’ notice of race cancellation. The next race, The Grand Prix of Drag Boat, sanctioned by the National Drag Boat Assn. (NDBA), was scheduled for June 22 and 23.

NDBA drivers, reacting to the Irvine Co.’s decision, said cancellation of races at Irvine Lake would hurt the sport’s commercial success. Such races at Long Beach’s Marine Stadium were banned because of excessive noise.

‘Hard for Them to Survive’

“I don’t see how they (the NDBA) 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 in the NDBA’s coffin. It will be hard for them to survive without Southern California.”

Hill said Irvine Lake is the only location in Southern California sanctioned by the NDBA for drag boat racing.

Tim Morgan of Walnut, who competed in last month’s race at the lake, said the decision to ban future races 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,” Morgan said.

But another racer, Ted Faggart of Porterville, 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.”

‘Still a Viable Facility’

Tom Indovina of Los Angeles, the NDBA legal counsel, lamented the Irvine Co.’s decision but said the association was still “reassessing the notice.”

“It’s very, very fresh to us. We need more time to look into it,” he said. “But we still believe that Irvine Lake is still a very viable racing facility.”

Friday’s decision was applauded by Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, who had urged the ban on speedboat races. The supervisor had also asked county officials to revoke the conditional use permit issued to race sponsors at Irvine Lake. A hearing on that matter will be conducted later this month, he said.

“The county Planning Commission should still go forward with its hearing on the revocation of the use permit because of their (race sponsors’) conscious disregard for public safety,” Nestande said.

Indovina, the NDBA legal counsel, said he had hoped that the Irvine Co. would wait for “the outcome of the hearing” before deciding whether to ban the races.