Driver Jeff "TJ" Tillman, 46, of Kaiser, Missouri, and his throttleman Bob Morgan, 74, of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, were killed during the 31st Annual Key West World Championship, an offshore powerboat race held inside Key West Harbor, in front of Mallory Square, Key West, in Monroe County, Florida, United States.
The accident occurred on the opening day of the three-day meeting, Wednesday, 09 November 2011 afternoon. The Key West event was the eighth and final round of the 2011 Super Boat International series.
Tillman and Morgan were running in third place in "Big Thunder Marine", the 46-foot Skater catamaran #100 with four 1,200 horsepower engines, entered in the superboat unlimited class. During the third lap of the seven-lap race, the boat went airborne and flipped vertically, at an estimated speed of 130 mi/h (about 210 km/h), coming to rest upside down in the water. The catamaran was almost torn open by the force of the impact, its right front hull was severely damaged. Both its occupants pulled alive from wreckage and were taken to Lower Keys Medical Center. But the throttleman Morgan was pronounced dead on arrival, and the driver Tillman succumbed to his injuries just after admission
R.I.P
