Hydroplane driver Sterret killed

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Champion hydroplane driver Bill Sterret Jr. died Saturday after an accident on the Ohio River near downtown Owensboro.

Owensboro police said Sterret, 57, was piloting a hydroplane when it hit rough water, nose dived and broke up.

Another boater pulled Sterret from the water. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead of blunt force trauma, Daviess County Deputy Coroner John Thayer said.

The river was choppy, especially after a towboat and barge passed through.

News of the accident stunned those at the Thunder on the Ohio hydroplane race in Evansville, Ind. Chairman Tom Sawyer called for a moment of silence.

Sterret’s father, Bill Sterret Sr., retired from racing in 1969 after winning the Governor’s Cup at Owensboro and the American Power Boat Association’s Gold Cup at San Diego. He captured three world championships and a world speed record in the mid-1960s.

The biggest victory for Bill Sterret Jr. came in 1972, when he won the President’s Cup on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

“The boat racing community is a family, and it’s a tragedy,” Sawyer told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.

Funeral arrangements were pending at Glenn Funeral Home.