Powerboat Driver Dies of Racing Injuries : Pro boating: Sepulveda’s Madelon, 50, was in a craft driven by his son when it flipped near Long Beach.

Vincent Madelon Sr., 50, a pioneer powerboat racer from Sepulveda, died Sunday, a day after being injured in an accident in the Offshore Professional Tour races at Long Beach.

Madelon sustained massive head and neck injuries in the crash, which occurred while he was at the throttle of a 24-foot catamaran powered by twin 200-horsepower outboard engines. The boat was being driven by his son, Vincent Madelon Jr., 26, less than five miles into the first lap of a seven-lap, 140-mile race in the Pro-II division.

“They hit some rough water and the boat flipped over,” said George Ryon, who had driven boats with Vincent Madelon Sr. “They were doing about 90 m.p.h. at best and were at a spot where there’s kind of a turbulence, some cross current, at Queen’s Gate.

“They were going for the lead--alongside or just behind another boat going the same speed, and that boat got through OK.

“He knew about this place on the water,” Ryon said. “It was the kind of place where he shouldn’t have been charging.”

Madelon Sr. was ejected along with his seat and Madelon Jr. stayed inside the boat, which pitched to the left and flipped. Madelon Jr. had to be pulled from the boat and was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, where he was treated for a wrenched arm and released.

His father was rescued by Offshore Powerboat Tour medical teams and Long Beach lifeguards and taken to St. Mary’s where he was placed on a life-support system until Sunday afternoon.

Vincent Madelon Sr. had raced offshore powerboats for some 35 years, according to Ryon, who had teamed with Madelon to win the points championship a year ago in the Pacific Offshore Power Boat Racing Assn.

In March, Madelon had won in the first race in which he had worked in the boat that crashed. The Saturday race was his third in that boat, which is owned by Beverly Hills real estate broker David Perry.

Madelon’s affection for boats and speed was more than a weekend thing. He had worked as a boat mechanic and repairman and opened a small repair business in Venice in the 1960s, said Bob Bowles, who had raced with Madelon since the early 1970s before crashing in a hydroplane more than a year ago. “It was a small, one-room shop, but you knew he was going on to bigger things,” Bowles said.

Madelon owned Hydro Propulsion Co., a boat service firm in Hawthorne, and flew his own airplane. He also flew helicopters, according to Ryon.

“Racing was his life,” Ryon said.

“He had an old Marauder boat that he used to with with a bunch of friends,” said Bob Bowles, who had raced with Madelon since the early 1970s. “I guess he had been around the water most of his life. He had worked on a barge in and out of New York City before coming to California.”

Bowles said he and Madelon had raced on the West Coast and in Mexico, though Madelon occasionally made forays into East Coast racing. “He was the kind of guy that, if you said, ‘Let’s race,’ he’d say, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Bowles said.

Madelon was a contract professional racing driver for Outboard Marine Corp. several years ago, according to Ryon, and he, like many others in the business, had crashed in the past. “He once told me that he had a boat blow up right under him,” Ryon said. “It was a gasoline boat and the tank had sprung a leak and was ignited by a spark from an engine. And he wasn’t hurt at all.”

Bowles continued: “It was off Redondo Beach in the 1970s. The explosion was so hot that it melted the bottom of his shoe to the deck. But he got out OK.”

Madelon had driven all kinds of powerboats, including drag boats, tunnel outboards, endurance boats and hydroplanes.

Madelon, a widower, is survived by his son and four daughters. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Sunday evening.

Norman Gentry, 33, of Marin County, whose boat also flipped Saturday, was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital with aspiratory pneumonia after swallowing a large amount of ocean water.