You're not the only one JD, the drivers don't like it either. I know they do similar style starts in the smaller classes where it works well. The big difference is the smaller boats speed up and slow down quicker as well as being able to weave and turn easier at low speeds. Having to speed up for the required "racing speed" pass, slow down to not violate the 1 minute rule, speed up to keep your lane(or steal one) and slow again to keep from jumping the gun and still having to be able to turn the heavy and sluggish 6700+ pound unlimiteds between and around the other boats just isn't a safe way to start a heat. Don't know if anyone remembers or not, Jon Zimmerman ran the U-9 over the transom of the U-25 during one of the "crawls", destroying one of the U-25's vertical stabilizers and damaging the U-9 enough to end it's day due to Jon being blinded by the spray on the windshield from the sponsons. If we take this situation back even further, back in 1988, John Prevost ran the Circus Circus over the then brand new Miss Madison for the same reason, being blinded by sponson spray at low speed. While this happened returning to the pits after a heat, it still clearly illustrates the problem trying to force these boats to do what they were never intended to do, that being to go slow.
