Mercury Racing Blog: Key West Poker Run Recap

By Rick Mackie, Mercury Racing

Whew! I’m just getting back to a “normal” schedule after last week’s Key West Poker Run. It was a great event. We had people at the Mercury Racing truck from the moment we unloaded our 1350 and 565 display engines through the 10:00 p.m. closing time. It was non-stop action Thursday through Saturday. It’s always fun to meet and greet folks who enjoy our products. It is equally enjoyable to establish new relationships with future customers.

This year was the 20th anniversary of the event. Stu Jones and the Florida Powerboat Club staff didn’t disappoint. This has to be the largest gathering of performance boats on earth. It is also the largest gathering of performance boat builders and dealers. Industry movers and shakers included Reggie Fountain, Randy Scism (MTI), Peter Hledin (Skater), Chad Braver (Cigarette), Todd Warner (Statement), Nils Johnson and Trond Schou (Nor-Tech), Paul Loguidice (Hustler), David Woods and Scott Shogren (Pier 57).



The weather was on the cool side Thursday night; perfect for Mercury Racing jacket and hoodie sales. Those were sold out by Friday morning! The rest of the week was sunny with temps in the mid-70s. It is truly an international event with visitors from Norway, Canada and Germany participating in the run and checking out all of the vendor displays. Numerous times we would have three groups of people at the truck. I would be standing near the 1350 answering questions regarding our QC4v engine platform; Scott Reichow was talking props near the Mercury Racing Prop & Accessories display and Dave Vehrs would be answering questions regarding NXT1, NXT6 or M8 drives. Meanwhile, Brad Halpin, one of our product integration managers, assisted customers who had questions regarding propulsion package set-up and operation. Adrian Rushforth, who handles Marketing and Sales for Mercury Canada, came down to escape the cold. He was a great help with answering questions and engaging with our customers as well.

I would like to extend a special thanks to Kyle Hensley and crew for getting our displays off and back on our truck safely. Kyle is a tireless worker who kept the entire village organized and running smoothly!

I look forward to seeing all of the video footage American Performance Television (APTV) captured at the event. Here’s the first in a series of event videos we’ll be posting on the Mercury Racing YouTube channel.


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