The Spring Nationals, an International Hot Boat Association drag racing event held on the Puddingstone Reservoir, was marred by the death of Tim Capaldi, three-time winner of the IHBA blown alcohol World Championship.
Just after completing a first-round elimination race at almost 200 mi/h (320 km/h), Tim Capaldi's drag boats, named "Mission Possible", went out of control a couple hundred yards past the finish line, crashed and disintegrated. The driver still had a heartbeat when he was pulled from the lake by helicopter. He was rushed to Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora, Los Angeles County, where he was pronounced dead.
The drag boat races were run at the Puddingstone Reservoir, an artificial lake inside the Bonelli Regional Park, located in San Dimas, in eastern Los Angeles County, California.
Capaldi, 31, was a resident of Los Angeles, California at the time of his death.
Tim Capaldi was the third boating fatality at the Puddingstone Reservoir. In 1989 Bill Thomas, Jr. was killed when his drag boat flipped during a world-record attempt, and in 1992 Denver Mullins drowned in another accident at an IHBA event. Jerry Fulgham of Whittier, Alaska, lost an arm in another huge crash which occurred at the Puddingstone Reservoir in 1987.
Five years before his death, Tim Capaldi suffered a broken back, hand and shoulder while competing in the 1989 Spring Nationals. After a long convalescence, he came back to racing, winning the 1989 class championship. He then retired from the sport for a while, due to safety concerns. He turned to car racing before returning to drag boat racing in 1992. He was the first blown alcohol hydro class boat racer to drive more than 200 mi/h (320 km/h).
R.I.P
Just after completing a first-round elimination race at almost 200 mi/h (320 km/h), Tim Capaldi's drag boats, named "Mission Possible", went out of control a couple hundred yards past the finish line, crashed and disintegrated. The driver still had a heartbeat when he was pulled from the lake by helicopter. He was rushed to Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora, Los Angeles County, where he was pronounced dead.
The drag boat races were run at the Puddingstone Reservoir, an artificial lake inside the Bonelli Regional Park, located in San Dimas, in eastern Los Angeles County, California.
Capaldi, 31, was a resident of Los Angeles, California at the time of his death.
Tim Capaldi was the third boating fatality at the Puddingstone Reservoir. In 1989 Bill Thomas, Jr. was killed when his drag boat flipped during a world-record attempt, and in 1992 Denver Mullins drowned in another accident at an IHBA event. Jerry Fulgham of Whittier, Alaska, lost an arm in another huge crash which occurred at the Puddingstone Reservoir in 1987.
Five years before his death, Tim Capaldi suffered a broken back, hand and shoulder while competing in the 1989 Spring Nationals. After a long convalescence, he came back to racing, winning the 1989 class championship. He then retired from the sport for a while, due to safety concerns. He turned to car racing before returning to drag boat racing in 1992. He was the first blown alcohol hydro class boat racer to drive more than 200 mi/h (320 km/h).
R.I.P
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