RIP Boat Racer Greg Belda

[DUN24]

Died today during parade laps before a Circle Outboard Runabout race at Lake Puddingstone. Apparent part failure sent him directly in the path of another boat.

 

[Johali]

RIP

 

[Magnethead]

believe @Nitro Dude said he was there

 

[Nitro Dude]

Yes, i was there Magnethead, and i was also at the Parker Az race last Nov when another driver was killed in a super stock boat.

 

[DUN24]

I remember hearing about that one too... It's a very dangerous sport. It seems like it faces rashes of fatalities every few years both in circles and in drag racing. I'm lucky enough to have never witnessed a fatal crash. Also worth noting the driver was 75 years old. Very sad.

I think the outboards are sanctioned by the APBA, who I thought had a rule that every boat has to have a capsule.. Maybe that rule changed at some point, I don't know.

Nitro how was the boat count that you could tell? I know it was early in the weekend.

believe @Nitro Dude said he was there

Yeah he actually turned me on to the race.. I was planning on attending on Sunday, after this crash they cancelled the rest of the weekend events.

 

[shark77]

That is definitely one sport that I would have serious trepidation about driving in. It makes motorcycle racing look safe.

I remember when I was in my early teens, my dad's friend raced Hydrostreams. He took us out in his boat one afternoon and let us feel what 120 mph felt like on water. There is nothing like it and one time was enough.

RIP. Boat racing takes a special breed of person to do that on a regular basis.

 

[Nitro Dude]

I remember hearing about that one too... It's a very dangerous sport. It seems like it faces rashes of fatalities every few years both in circles and in drag racing. I'm lucky enough to have never witnessed a fatal crash. Also worth noting the driver was 75 years old. Very sad.

I think the outboards are sanctioned by the APBA, who I thought had a rule that every boat has to have a capsule.. Maybe that rule changed at some point, I don't know.

Nitro how was the boat count that you could tell? I know it was early in the weekend.



Yeah he actually turned me on to the race.. I was planning on attending on Sunday, after this crash they cancelled the rest of the weekend events.

I don't know any of the rules for the outboard boats. But, the way i understand it any new boats being built for super stock or faster has to have a capsule and i think they are going to make it mandatory for all boats in the faster classes to have capsules next year. The K-boat that i go with is brand new and it has a capsule. They are up in northern California this weekend trying to set the Kilo record.

 

[DUN24]

I don't know any of the rules for the outboard boats. But, the way i understand it any new boats being built for super stock or faster has to have a capsule and i think they are going to make it mandatory for all boats in the faster classes to have capsules next year. The K-boat that i go with is brand new and it has a capsule. They are up in northern California this weekend trying to set the Kilo record.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist, I thought the capsule rule was lame when I first heard it..probably like 5 years ago.. and I like to imagine the boat in the garage is similar to the boats on the track(yeah right haha), but the capsules are definitely the best way to advance safety in the sport.

Not saying it could have saved Greg Belda or Kyle Bements life(I don't know the details of the Bement crash) but as I grow older the more it makes sense to see the safety advances.