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Daily Mail
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Christie Brinkley's tragic lost love BEFORE Billy Joel: Dashing champagne heir died in race crash aged 27
Christie Brinkley was swept up in a fairytale romance with a devastating ending a year before her tumultuous union with hitmaker Billy Joel began. The supermodel, famed for her peppy smile and California girl looks, was fresh off an eight year marriage to French artist Jean-François Allaux when she first connected with another Frenchman, champagne heir Olivier Chandon de Brailles in 1982. Chandon was the handsome only son of billionaire Frederic Chandon de Brailles, chairman of the Moët-Hennessy group, who was forging a career in race car driving. A chance meeting with the uber-wealthy Moët-Chandon nepo baby at NYC hotspot Studio 54 sparked 'love at first sight' for the Sports Illustrated icon. They swiftly became one of the power couples of the 80s, but friction arose over Chandon's desire to purse professional race car driving - despite his family and Brinkley's reported misgivings over his chosen career. On March 2 1983 Brinkley's worst fears were realized when the high-octane sport claimed Chandon's life in a freak crash in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was just 27 years old. Less than an hour before his death, a heartbroken Brinkley had made plans to meet Chandon that evening. The pair's fateful first meeting came at a soiree to promote the 1982 Christie Brinkley calendar. A smitten Chandon sent her a dozen white roses afterwards with a note: 'Hope to see you again before the flowers die.' Brinkley said it was 'love at first sight' when she first locked eyes with Chandon, a French citizen who had moved to New York City to study. Chandon had attended the exclusive Le Rosey School in Switzerland, and had served in the French Air Force. His passion for racing began in Europe, where he competed in his first race aged just 18. He moved to New York City in 1979 to study marketing and work in the sales department of United Technologies before resuming his racing career. Described as being 'blessed with great charm and poise' Chandon spoke five languages fluently, had a black belt in Taekwondo and was also an 'avid skydiver.' They swiftly became one of the power couples of the 80s but friction arose over Chandon's desire to forge a successful race car career - despite his family and Brinkley's misgivings - pictured 1982 Their romance went from strength-to-strength and the high profile pair attended numerous glittering parties together, with Brinkley regularly spotted supporting him at the race track. The only cloud on the horizon of the romance was concern over Chandon's vocation. He dropped the de Brailles from his name due to concern from his family over safety in the sport, per Motorsport Memorial. Chandon competed professionally only once in the 1982 Formula Super Vee USA with Wilbur Bunce Racing and in a Ralt RT5 (Volkswagen), finishing in 43rd position - but he was determined to prove himself in the ruthless race car world. His final days were spent preparing for the Formula Atlantic season with the Fred Opert Racing Team of New York. At a cost of $600 a day, the team rented Moroso Motorsport Park - now known as the Palm Beach International Raceway - to test the new 1983 Ralt and and an older car. On Tuesday March 1, the day before his death, Chandon drove for more than 100 miles in the older car to acclimatize himself with the track. The next day Chandon climbed into the new Ralt Formula Atlantic car and began driving around the Park's B-Line Highway. On his tenth lap around the track, the car left the road and crashed into a barrier at more than 100mph. The vehicle catapulted into a canal 12 meters from the track with a helpless Chandon pinned in the car by his feet. Although his injuries were survivable, he was unable to escape and drowned. When told of the accident, a distraught Christie stayed in California. Then Palm Beach Sheriff's Sgt. J.J. Andersen said the driver's father, Frederic, who was the owner of the car, was expected to fly to Florida from France. He said: 'He will be meeting with the race team to discuss what happened. No one has said there was a mechanical failure, but we will continue to look into it.' The Palm Beach Medical Examiner confirmed there were no signs of blows to the head or any body injuries that might have contributed to his death. His cause of death was confirmed as 'asphyxiation by drowning.' The cause of the accident remains a mystery to this day - with a stuck throttle or driver error touted as possible theories. Chandon is buried in the Laferte-sur-Aube cemetery, Haute-Marne, France. Brinkley moved on with musician Joel soon after Chandon's death. The pair had met for the first time in January 1983, two months before Chandon's crash, while they were both on vacation in St. Barts. The Piano Man singer explained that he reached out to Brinkley after he heard that her boyfriend had died to offer his condolences, they struck up a friendship, and things eventually turned romantic. The two started dating while he was still in a relationship with Elle Macpherson, as Billy wrote in his 2014 memoir, Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography, that he once brought Christie home while Elle was already asleep in his bed. More than four decades on from his death, Chandon has remained in a now 71-year-old Brinkley's thoughts and memories. She reflects on their relationship in her new memoir, Uptown Girl, and previously revealed that she had to take time off from her modelling career to rebuild after Chandon's death. She said: 'I remember coming close to [starring in Darryl Hannah film] Splash but that was when my boyfriend Olivier was killed in the car accident. And I just had to take a little sabbatical.'
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Speedboat flips in Lake Havasu as racers attempt to break speed record
The Brief A speedboat on Lake Havasu was seen somersaulting through the air in a wild crash caught on tape. Both racers on the boat suffered minor injuries but are doing OK. The drivers were trying to break the speed record on the lake of 206 mph. LAKE HAVASU, Ariz. - Terrifying moments on Lake Havasu as the need for speed lifts a boat off the water, flipping high into the air. The frightening scene unfolded on April 26 as the speed boat was trying to break a record. Advertisement Somehow, both racers walked away from it all, lucky to be alive. What we know Their 10,000-horsepower speedboat was set up for a record-breaking run when disaster struck. We spoke to Speedboat Magazine's Ray Lee for his reaction to the crash. He said the team was hoping to make history this weekend. What they're saying "It's a 388 skater and it's estimated at about 10,000 horsepower. So they came to Lake Havasu earlier in the week intending to break the record here for the desert storm shootout. That was their first pass of the day and when they went over, the radar picked them up at 200.1 mph," said Lee. Advertisement Fellow competitors say the men owe their lives to the people who built the vessel. "The last thing you ever want to see is a crash and especially something as horrendous as that," said Jeff Clark, a shootout competitor. Clark has been around boats his whole life but just started competing in speedboat shootouts over the last five years. He says going that fast can take away a driver's ability to react. "At that speed, it doesn't take much, you know, those tunnel holes are built to pack air so the boat rides on top of the water. You know it's like on a rail and if you pack up too much and that nose gets too high it'll just - at that speed - it'll take you airborne." Watch FOX 10 Phoenix live: The other side Clark says the sight of a fellow competitor's boat flying through the air was chilling. Advertisement "My heart dropped when I saw that boat get airborne. It's never something you want to look at when you're out having fun as a driver for sure," he said. Both Clark and Lee say windy conditions may have played a factor but also may have helped those onboard. "Best case scenario, because of the wind, when the boat cut it, it held it up there longer than (if there) had there not been such substantial wind," said Lee. "You hold your breath and you hold it until you see both racers emerge from the cockpit," he said. "For the most part, uninjured." The backstory Both men are with Freedom One Racing and go by the names John Wayne and Clint Eastwood to hide their real identities. Advertisement They're from Kansas City, Missouri and are on a mission to bring back the speed record to the lake: 206 mph! Dig deeper There have been 11 fatal racing crashes on Lake Havasu since 1963, according to Motorsport Memorial, with the deadliest incident happening in 2018 when three people died when a boat called "Lickety Split" crashed. Clark says that safety improvements made to sport boats over the years make the difference in these scary situations. "Those guys are alive for one reason and one reason only. That boat was built not to come apart. So when they were sitting in that cockpit and when you look at pictures of the boats, it's totally destroyed but the cockpit is in perfect condition. I tip my hat to Skater and the crew that built that boat because it saved that guy's life, it saved both of their lives, there's no doubt about it," he said. Air systems and access hatches are other safety measures Jeff Clark mentioned as part of the design process on sport boats to keep those onboard as safe as possible.
