NEWS FLASH

Evansville businessman Lloyd Burns, who operated a boat shop on Waterworks Road and was an avid boat racer, died Saturday afternoon when the speedboat he was piloting crashed on Kentucky Lake's Pisgah Bay near Grand Rivers, Ky.

Witnesses said Burns, 68, was practicing runs in an outboard engine-powered drag racing boat on the bay, which is at Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes, when the craft went airborne at a high speed.

The boat reportedly flipped, came back to the surface and largely disintegrated from the impact with the water.

Burns, the driver and owner of the boat, was ejected and thrown into the water.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife authorities said Burns was taken by ambulance to an open area near the scene and then flown to Deaconess Hospital, where he died at 1:13 p.m.

Burns suffered multiple injuries in the crash, said Annie Groves, Vanderburgh County chief deputy coroner.

Ron Riecken, president of Inland Marina Inc., said Burns was a successful businessman and had a passion for racing.

"He has done this for many years," Riecken said. "He was well respected in the circuit and won a lot of races."

Burns opened his first boat shop on Harmony Way. In 1981, after 10 years of success, he moved the business, called Lloyd's Inland Marine, to its current location on Waterworks Road.

Baja was his favorite model, Riecken said, and "he sold a lot of them."

Burns still raced regularly, even at 68, Riecken said. "We're really going to miss him."

Benton, Ky., fisherman Danny York reportedly was the first to reach the injured driver, who was unconscious but kept afloat by a life jacket. York pulled Burns aboard his bass boat and was joined by John Parks of Paducah, Ky., a police officer with emergency medical training.

York and Parks reportedly brought Burns to shore at a nearby LBL lake access, where he was tended to before a Lyon County, Ky., ambulance arrived.

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The Kentucky Drag Boat Association held their annual banquet on February 3, 2007 at Casino Aztar in Evansville , Indiana .

The weather was very cold and snowy but that didn’t stop racers from traveling from as far away as West Virginia and Illinois .

The beginning of the day started with a meeting of all the board members. They gathered to discuss the up coming race season. How improvements could be made to help make a more fun and profitable year. The two most important factors discussed were increasing the purse payout to entice more racers to come to Kentucky to race and setting the race schedule for this season. The three races that will be held at Pisgah Bay on Kentucky Lake will be 1/4 mile point races. The Livermore race that is held on the Green River will be 1000 ft course. The annual test and tune weekend will not be held at the first race, it will be held on the Friday of the Livermore race. We hope the changes will bring some of our past racers back and get new racers to join us.

After a couple of hours the meeting was opened to the rest of the members of the club. The members were told of the changes and new race schedule. The meeting consisted of a question and answer session and all questions were addressed.

The banquet got underway around 6:00 for social gathering with the meal being served at 7:00. After everyone had gotten plenty to eat the actual awards were given out.

Roger Austin got the awards started by presenting Vince Ottway and his wife, Janie, a KDBA club hat for all the time and effort they share with the club through Racers for Christ. They have been coming to the races for around eight years. The groups of people that come to the service that they offer on Sunday mornings have really grown since their very first service.

Joe Neville, one of our divers for the club, had brought a hand made quilt, that his mother had made, to the banquet. This quilt was very unique because it was made from old t-shirts from the club. She had taken the backs of the t-shirts and quilted them together. The t-shirts were from some of the early races clear up to the most recent ones from the past years. It was very pretty. Joe gave it to Roger to take home. It is funny that there are other uses for all those old t-shirts that you don’t wear anymore.

The next section of the night was for the appreciation to all the workers that had donated their time and energy to setting up the track and taking it down. There is a lot of work that is done behind the scene before a boat race can even begin. It takes a lot of people to do this. The ramp workers, Tyler, Sawyer, and Brice, were all given a KDBA hat for all their hard work through the year helping put the racers boats in and out of the water. Brice was not in attendance.

Graybeard Photography, Ken and Marg Johnson, were recognized for their hard work. They try to make every race and take pictures of all the boats. We are very proud to have them as part of our race family.

Being president of a boat club takes a lot of time and effort, that is why Roger wanted to thank his wife, Janet, and his two lovely daughters, Kelly and Laura, for allowing him to spend so much time working on the club and getting them to help him when he needs to do mailings or anything else. Family means a lot to Kentucky Drag Boat Association and that is why we try to make racing a family event and fun for everyone.

Mary Jane Beach was honored for her hard work on top of the hill at the clocks. Mary Magner was unable to work with Mary Jane this past season and that left Mary Jane a little short handed. Donna Salsman was honored for her help on the clocks and her articles that she would send into the local newspapers with the racing results and the articles that she would prepare for Drag Boat Review.

The next people that were honored for their service were the divers. Kentucky Drag Boat Association has some of the best divers in the business. We are very honored to have Joe Neville, Roger Back, Pat Hill, and Bobby Stevens as our dive and rescue team. They all were presented Kentucky Drag Boat Association jackets. That was just a small token of the clubs appreciation for all the hard work they do keeping every racer feeling safe and at ease if something happened and needed them.

The Super Charger Award is given every year. The winner of this award is usually picked by Roger Austin with the help of a few other members of the club. Roger tries to make it someone other than a board member, but sometime that is difficult to do. When the board members go beyond the call of duty to make sure something gets done, Roger had to take note. This year the award was given to three people. Barry Salsman received the first Super Charger Award, the second one went to Bob Hardison, and the third went to Tom Harrod. All three of these guys work very hard for the club. They donate their time and skills to improving the club or making the races better. Tom Harrod always brings the john boats that are used as tow vehicles during the races. Sometime Tom is unable to attend the races but he always sends the john boats and one of his workers to man the boat. He is a very devoted guy that loves boat racing and tries to help share his passion with others. Bob Hardison is an excellent machinist and he is always inventing things that make it easier for the club to get things done. He helped design both of the rescue boats. Barry Salsman makes sure that the big rescue boat is at the right location when it comes time to race. The big rescue boat takes a big truck to pull down the road, not to mention a lot of permits. He spends a lot of time on the phone getting the right permits in order to get the boat moved from Livermore to Kentucky Lake and than back again in the fall as the season comes to an ends.

All of the Board of Directors was recognized for their work during the past season. George Onneybecker was recognized as being the only charter member left. He has spent many years making this club what it is today. We are very proud of his hard work and devotion to Kentucky Drag Boat Association.

The final part of the banquet was the presenting of the high points trophies to the winners. River Racer II was Scott Buchanan, he was unable to attend. There was not a runner up in this class due to the lack of entries in this class.

River Racer I was a very close race. The winner was not determined until the very last race at the very last round. Suzy Shepherd was the winner and Angela Perkins took the runner up award.

Stock Eliminator had Dave Ellison winning his first high points trophy. He thanked his wife and his good friends, Lloyd and Carol Burns, for all of their help through the year. Brad Murphy was awarded the runner up award in this class.

Modified Eliminator was awarded to Rick Conklin and Brown Hawley was awarded the runner up plaque.

Top Eliminator was awarded to Jeff Young. Young had an award of his own to present. Tom Harrod was presented an award from all of Jeff Young’s crew for his hard work in helping him win races during the year.

The high point ’s award was presented to Steve Wagner for the Pro Eliminator Class. Randy Johnson took the runner up award. (Randy Johnson was unable to attend).

Pro Mod—Top Gun was awarded to Charlie Duncan. There was not a runner up in this class.

We would like to invite everyone to go to our web site and check out the new schedule for the up coming races. Keep checking back because the pictures of the racers will be updated very soon. Kim Murphy will be keeping our web site up to date, so check back often to see what’s new. The web site is www.kdba.net

If you are thinking about getting into drag boat racing contact some of our board of directors and let them answer any questions you might have.

We look forward to the racing season to begin, and to see everyone come to Kentucky and have a great time racing.

Businessman fatally injured when drag racing boat flips