20 Years ago on April 22nd 1985 a Drag Boat driven by Jim Lange ran ashore and into the crowd ultimately killing a 9 year old girl Brandy Branchflower. There was a heated debate between the drivers and what was the NDBA (National Drag Boat Association) over who was to blame for the accident. The drivers claimed the course was unsafe, the NDBA claimed it was driver error. From reading some of the news articles from way back when it was mentioned that the lake levels were way down, which made for small shut down areas, and brought crowds way to close to the action. In an interesting statistic, the following day after the crash the spectator count raised to 20,000 (stat from LA Times).
Lucas Oil, has pumped quite a bit of money into this location to make it a premier venue for drag racing into the future! According to Todd Taylor (Logistics Event Planning Manager for the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series), they have done quite a bit of grading already, new in / out ramps for the boats, and most importantly a sense of history that leads to planning for safety into the future. In Todd Taylor's words they have "Evolved the venue into a premier drag boat course."
This weekend will mark the return of the drags to Irvine and the entire race community is getting behind it, with over 120 boats registered to race already! If circle races are more to your liking don't worry the show won't dissapoint, K Boats, Super Stocks, and Cracker Boxes will also be in attendance!
My only wish is that I would be able to attend it personally, but due to a back injury from Desert Storm weekend I won't be able to make it. Have no fear though RDP will be in attendance as we are sending two of our top photographers, Daren VanRyte, and Scott Shanklin to cover the event.
Address to the venue is : (make sure you come in the second entrance, not the main entrance)
4621 Santiago Cyn Rd
Silverado CA 92676
The phone # to Irvine lake for more information is - 714-649-9111
Ticket Prices are
Friday - 10
Saturday - 20
Sunday - 25
Weekend Pass - 50.00
Teens - 5.00 off
12 and under free with paid adult.
written by RiverDave
