As motorboat racing is a dangerous sport, many individuals (including drivers, crew members, officials and spectators) have been killed in crashes related to the sport, either in a race, in qualifying, in practice or a private testing session. For example, in offshore powerboat racing, one racer dies each year from accidents. Although a push for safety in recent years has led to the decrease in deaths and serious injuries as closed cockpits, safety cells and harnesses more common in automobile racing have become more common among the top and fastest classes.
Fatal Accidents during Water speed record Name Date Place Boat Spec. Comment Henry Segrave 1930-06-13 Windermere Miss England II Driver Vic Halliwell Riding engineer John CobbJohn Cobb Tributes 1952-09-29 Loch Ness Crusader Mario Verga 1954-10-09 Lago d'Iseo Laura 3 Donald CampbellDonald Campbell Tributes 1967-01-04 Coniston Water Bluebird K7 Lee Taylor 1980-11-13 Lake Tahoe Discovery II Test run Craig Arfons 1989-07-09 Lake Jackson Rain X Challenger
Fatal Accidents during an Unlimited Hydroplane race Name Date Race Place Boat Spec. Comment Bill Freitag 1931/09/19 President's Cup Potomac River Miss Philadelphia Joe Schaeffer 1939/08/28 Test run Detroit River Delphine IX Orth Mathiot 1951/08/04 Gold Cup Lake Washington Quicksilver Driver Thompson "Thom" Whitaker Co-pilot/mechanic Lloyd Maddock 1955/06/25 Detroit Memorial Regatta Detroit River Holiday Ezio Selva 1957/12/29 Orange Bowl Regatta Grand Prix Biscayne Bay Moschettiere Bob Hayward 1961/09/10 Silver Cup Detroit River Miss Supertest Ron Musson 1966/06/19 President's Cup Potomac River Miss Bardahl Explosion during race Rex Manchester Notre Dame Collision during final heat Don Wilson Miss Budweiser Chuck Thompson 1966/07/03 Gold Cup Detroit River Smirnoff Bill Brow 1967/11/06 Tampa Suncoast Cup Tampa Bay Miss Budweiser Warner Gardner 1968/09/08 Gold Cup Detroit River Miss Eagle Electric Tommy Fults History of Pay 'N Pak Racing 1970/09/16 Gold Cup Mission Bay Pay 'n Pak's 'lil Buzzard Qualifying run Skipp Walther 1974/06/02 Champion Spark Plug Trophy Miami Marine Stadium Red Man Test run prior to race Jerry Bangs 1977/08/07 Seafair Trophy Lake Washington The Squire Bill MunceyRemembering Bill Muncey, Mr. Unlimited 1981/10/18 UIM World Championship race Acapulco Atlas Van Lines Dean Chenoweth 1982/07/31 Columbia Cup Columbia River Miss Budweiser George Stratton 2000/09/17 Bayfair Mission Bay Appian Jeronimo During a practice session on race day.
Fatal Accidents during offshore powerboat racing
Name Role Date Series Race Place Boat Spec Comment Val Carr 1972/03/26 Schwepps 80 Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia Paul Carr Alf Bontoft Driver 1976/08/29 Cowes-Torquay Enfield Marine "Blitz" Joel Halpern Driver 1981/03/29 APBA Halter 200 Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans Michelob Light Robert Weir Driver 1984/01/29 Australian Power Boat Association Port Phillip 100 Sandringham, Victoria, Australia "Weirwolf" a 23 ft Whitehorse powered by 2 x 175 hp Mercury outboards. Boat nose dived into a wave and broke in half. Co-driver Michael Meeng escaped uninjured. Dick Fullam driver 1985 APBA Key West Still Crazy Fullam had a previous career as a CFL player Mike Poppa Throttleman Mark Lavin Throttleman 1986 APBA Marathon Fl., Seven Mile Bridge Jesse James Didier Pironi Driver 1987/08/23 Offshore World Championship Needles Trophy Isle of Wight, United Kingdom ACX "Colibri" - Lamborghini Pironi was previously a Formula One racing driver for Ferrari. He retired from racing cars due to injuries sustained in an accident at the 1982 German Grand Prix. Jean-Claude Guénard Throttleman Bernard Giroux Navigator Thomas Brandtpilot 1988 APBA Sheffield Oil Unocal 76 Offshore Classic Panama City, Florida Spirit of Miss Liberty Don Wright throttleman Kevin Brown Owner/Driver 1989/10/23 APBA/UIM Worlds Championship Atlantic City, New Jersey 32 ft Skater Team Skater UIM II (Modified Class)Jim Dyke throttle-Man Kevin Brown Owner/Driver Stefano Casiraghi Throttleman 1990/10/03 Class 1 WOC Monaco French RivieraPinot di Pinot Shannon Pearce Driver 1990 Cock of the Mersey - Devonport Apex Regatta Mersey River, Latrobe, Tasmania, Australia Brass Wilcockson Navigator 1991 Class 3D National Championship Allhallows, River Thames, United Kingdom Puma Catamaran Hamed Buhaleeba Throttleman 1995/08/25 Class Two World Offshore Championship Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom Victory M-1-Sterling Chevrolet V6 Khalid Al-Sabah 1997/03/30 Class Two Middle-East Offshore Championship Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Jack Carmody Driver 2001 APBA Offshore Pro Series Corpus Christi, Texas Xtreme Carlos N'Charlie's Sergio Carpentieri Throttleman June 30, 2007 Powerboat P1 World Championship Travemünde, Germany Carpenter Kevin Graff Driver August 24, 2008 OPA Battle on the Bay Patchogue, New York "Aero Express" MTI Phil DeJana Throttleman Joey Gratton Throttleman 2011/11/11 Superboat International 31st Annual World Championships Key West, Florida Page Motor Sports Mohammad Al Mehairi Driver 2009/12/11 Class One World Offshore Championship Dubai Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), Mina Seyahi Victory 1 Jean-Marc Sanchez Throttleman William Nocker Driver 2012/07/13 UIM Class-1 Gabon Grand Prix Libreville, Gabon Welmax Mike Fiore Throttleman 2014/08/19 Lake Ozarks Shootout Unsanctioned Race 2014 Lake Ozarks Shootout Lake Ozark, Missouri, USA "Outerlimits" Catamaran Offshore Powerboat During a run on the 23rd of August, Outerlimits clocked a speed upwards of 179 MPH/288 KPH before the boat lifted upwards. Mike tried to let off the throttle, but it was too late as the bottom of the boat had become a wing, lifting and flipping the boat upside down, until the nose hit the water. This redirected the boat the other direction, corkscrewing due to the high speeds until it hit the water cockpit first. Both the driver and the throttleman escaped under their own abilities, but the throttleman was already injured on the scene. He would pass away the Tuesday after the race due to complications. The race was an "outlaw" race, as races to 2023 were unsanctioned. Starting in 2024, the event is an APBA/UIM sanctioned event.
Fatal Accidents during outboard powerboat racing
Name Date Series Race Place Machine Cesare Scotti 1974/10/06 ON (2000 cc) Six Hours of Paris Seine River Scotti - Evinrude Peter Inward 1983/07/03 British F2 Powerboat Championship Fairford Hodges / Mercury Ken Stevenson 1983/12/11 Formula 2 Powerboat World Championship Nassau-Paradise Island Strait Bahamas Luigi Valdano 1984/05/27 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Grote Prijs van Nederland Ertveld Plas, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Gérard Barthelemy 1984/06/02 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Paris Grand Prix Seine River, Paris, France Hodges - Evinrude Roberto Saviero 1984/08/03 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Private test Po River, near Piacenza, Italy "Esercito Italiano" Molinari - Evinrude Tom Percival 1984/08/19 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Grand Prix de Belgique Benson & Hedges Meuse River, Liège, Belgium Hodges - Evinrude Philippe Rebulet 1988/11/06 Six Hours of Paris Seine River ? François Salabert 1990/06/10 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Embassy Grand Prix Bristol, United Kingdom Jeanneau / Mercury Bolesław Niklewski 1991/07/03 Malta Circuit, Poznań Poland John Hill 1993/04/16 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Burgess / Mercury Roger Demares 1995/05/02 24 heures Motonautiques de Rouen Seine River Deboos / Mercury Andy Chesman 1998/07/19 European Formula 500 Championship Hamburg, GermanyFort Boat / König Francis Maré 1999/05/01 24 heures Motonautiques de Rouen Seine River Heart attack Mirosław Kędziora 2001/09/23 S-550 World Championship Trzcianka Poland Victor Kunitch 2001/10/28 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates Vincenzo Polli 2002/12/21 Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 2012/09/16 P1 Superstock Series Weymouth United Kingdom Peters & May - P1 Panther 250 UK
Fatal Accidents during kyōtei racing Whilst being the 2nd from last with the highest number of fatal accidents of the four parimutuel betting sports in Japan, 34 drivers (including one trainee) have lost their lives since the first death in 1953. This is caused by collisions with the quay or one of the competing boats. It is estimated that there is one death for every 2 years.
Kyōtei boats, which are similar to C Stock Hydro (APBA) or OSY 400 (UIM) in specifications worldwide, do not feature seat belts, safety capsules, or other forms of required safety devices such as flotation devices and oxygen masks, which are required in most powerboat classes (offshore, F1H20, H1 Unlimited) after a series of early 1980's Unlimited Hydroplane fatalities.
+NameRankDateRaceStartGradeVenueRef.2003/5/257th at TsuB12004/3/285th at Amagasaki2262007/2/2650th Taiko Sho5G12010/5/14B1522013/11/2test sessionYuzu Mizushiron/a1919/5/2016training sessionn/aA1482020/2/99th at 63rd Kinki District Championship6G1B112/1/2022BOATBoyCUPA26/11/202210th at MiyajimaSource:
Fatal Accidents during hydroplane and displacement racing