My procedure has always been to stop in the water.. First gear, and give the gas a quick whack to wet the whole tire and move the car out of the puddle by a foot or two.
Stop completely..still in first, break the tires and as soon as I hear the motor come up strong, shift to second, wait a second and then shift to third with the pedal down hard.
I always take that as far out of the box as I is possible given the track or type of car it is.
I'm also a dry hop or chirpie type of guy. I know it gets the converter hot, but I like to gauge how the car is going to hit before I put the top bulb on.
