Mercury Through The Years...

**WaterZebra** · 07-18-2020, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by Robby321

OK, is that a dude in the water behind boats first pic?

Probably a primary reason why APBA sanctioned races are none existent due to risk management issues like this one. Insurance liability companies cut a wide berth from APBA these days. Looks like he was holding the red Allison. LeMans beach starts take a lot of people to help with staging. LeMans beach starts were a natural default choice because local race clubs lacked the resources to set up equipment for clock starts. Back when these photos were taken the technology for digital timing was still pretty primitive. At least he was waist deep. You should try holding a lighter tunnel in knee deep beach water. The prop blasts throw golf ball sized rocks, sticks, sand and goo on every holder in the line. Only positive aspect of having holders was they usually had a can of starting fluid handy in case the motor didn't light up. This holder was inexperienced because most holders would push off lightly at the 3 second mark and retreat to a safer position.