SHOW ABOUT DON ARONOW ON A&E @ 10:00 p.m. EST

[Instigator]

Sad but true story about Don Aronow the legend of Offshore racing when it was real and run in the Ocean.
He is the guy that started Magnum, Donzi, Cigarette, Formula, and Thunderbird boat companies.
Was gunned down 20 yrs ago in front of the Cigarette factory on Thunder Boat Row in Miami supposedly by Ben Kramer over a boat company sale gone bad due to Kramers involvment in drug trafficking.
Several books about this and was a movie being worked on that fell off the radar screen a few years back.
"City Confidential" on A&E. In this case fact is stranger than fiction!
Gary

[baja200merk]

Originally posted by Instigator

He is the guy that started Magnum, Donzi, Cigarette, Formula, and Thunderbird boat companies.
Gary


holy $h!t!!!!

:eek:

he started all of them!

$$$$

kevin

[Steve Zuckerman]

Gator,
I'm watching it too, AWESOME! Don was one smart, tough, son of a bitch;) :cool: ................
Regards,
Steve;)

[Kavalk]

Thanks for the alert!!!!

[Scream And Fly]

I have it on too - very interesting so far!

Thanks for the heads-up Gary!

Greg

[baja200merk]

you see those customs boats with the 4 mercs hangin off the back lol

y wouldnt they put 2 i/os in one of them? wouldnt that be cheaper

not that im complaining ! :D

[Steve Zuckerman]

Are we watching the same show?
A. Don wasn't a drug runner, although some of his customers probably were.
B. He built drug INTERDICTION boats for US Customs at the behest of George Bush (1).
C. He was murdered by a drug dealer, Ben Kramer, who was nothing more than a Don Aronow wannabe.
D. If Colt builds a .45 auto pistol, and someone shoots someone
else with it, is Colt guilty of murder/manslaughter? You may think so, but I don't.
E. Don was a VERY smart business man/high performance boat builder. I have nothing but respect for him. He is largely responsible for offshore powerboat racing. His customers loved him, his girlfriends loved him, and his friends loved him. A legacy many of us here would be proud to own.
Regards,
Steve;)

[baja200merk]

killed hi po boating in florida cause of the noise

its only getting worse i cant run my jet ski because its too loud!!

gotta get every one to drill out their mid sections and show them noise polution! tree huggers:mad:

[Airboater]

Thanks for the info Gary it was a great show.:cool:

[Instigator]

There was three books written about him and I read all of them.
He was a brilliant business man to be sure.
Sold the boat company to the Kramers knowing that part of the reason they bought it was based on the US Customs contract that they knew Don had with them.
Do you think Don knew that they would find out and cancel the contract;)
One of the books I read said he got $500K cash from the Kramers for the company as he does in all his transactions, he made it "non refundable":eek:
He had a seceret apartment in the Cigarette factory to sneak his winches. (that part drops him a few notches in my book because he was married at that time)
The best part of his history was when he was going strong in Offshorev when it was real and they were racing in the Ocean still.
He had one crew member break a leg in race one time and Don made sure he was O.K. and the rescue helicopter was close then chucked him over the side and kept going!!
They were making a movie about his life several years ago and then it dissapeared all of a sudden??
It would be better than 95% of whats been on screen for th e last 10 yrs.
Some of the stuff in the books are wild.
The Miami police were going to interview one key wittnes and when they got to his house he had just been blow up by a car boomb!!
Funniest thing is, this movie would have been based on fact intead of all computer animated crap as is current.
Gary

[Steve Zuckerman]

You may find this a weird coincidence, but his neice lived here in Nashville, and worked with my wife for a while!
I talked with her on several occaisions about her uncle. She was crazy about him, but unfortunately I know more about his boating
exploits than she does. Women :rolleyes: ................
I meet the legend's neice, and I think I'm going to hear all the juicy inside stuff about his boat building and racing exploits, and she says he never talked about it much around family:eek:?!
Anyway, it was a great show. They usually do late night reruns.
I think I'll set the VCR.
Looks like the fun police/eco freaks/developers are ruining the offshore hotrod game around Miami :mad: :confused: .............
Some people just can't stand to see other people having a good time at a sport they don't understand or condone.
Best Regards,
Steve;)

[Instigator]

Interesting indeed!
I was a huge fan of his until I started learing of the blatant womanizing. The guy was married, had kids, and every one knew he was doing the tail of the week thing.
The boating side of it is pretty amazing stuff though. He tried all kinds of goofy stuff to get the boats to run. When they were learning that narrow beamed boats did beter in the rough water he built a 6' beam boat! (it did'nt work)
Another popluar story was while running in very rough water where the boat was getting massive air, he hit the landing gear of a chase helicopter!!
When it came to racing he was a no "BS" kind of guy. People would start talking **** and he would just agree to meet them at the next race.
They said he could take more physical abuse than anyone competiting against him and so that if it was a rough race, he always won.
On the Kramer side of things, one of the books relates a smuggling story where Kramer actually started using barges because the could haul so much more contraband and the Customs people had'nt caught on yet.
So they're at one of the Bahama islands loading when some woman came up and told Ben that her boat never showed up and that he needed to let her share space on his boat . He said no but she caused enough of a scene that he let her (and her drugs) on board.
Story is as soon as they were out of sight of land, Kramer put a bullet in her head and pitched her body over the side and kept her drugs!
He also used a helicopter to try a jail break. The thing landed in the inmates excercise yard and tried to pick him and one other guy up.
He srewed up though and had a rookie pilot in a rented chopper that was too small for their payload and it never got off the ground :D ;) :p
So they get both Kramer, the 2nd inmate and the pilot!
This stuff is stranger than reality and I can't understand why they never finsihed the movie. (gueesing pressure from surviving family members?)
They actually had an add in Power Boat magazine a few years back looking for vintage Cigarettes to be used in the filming of the movie??
Always figured if they finshed that movie the vintage Cigarette prices would sky rocket ;)
Gary

[Ted March]

at the New York Boat Show in '65. He had just introduced the 16' Donzi in the Orange Bowl 9 Hour a few weeks earlier.

Quite a man!!!

[Instigator]

What a classic!
Still popular today.
I saw one with an O/B that was a very nice rig.

[stokernick]

Steve,you`re right,Iwas wrong,misinterpreted the connections.Aronow`s influence was creative,innovated,motivated to going faster and faster and faster.Please feel to delete that post!!:o :o

[JustMercMe]

I hate when I miss good stuff on T.V., Anybody know when it comes on next?

[berg969]

what did you guys think of the police boat with four outboards.

[at100plus]

There's a guy on the Mullica River in S. Jersey who has a 24' Aronow catamarin, it's much like a 24 Skater. I caught a ride in in a few years back, he just redid it, really cool boat. Anyone know if he made any other cats?

[outboards4life]

Great show. Lots of good information, definitely learned a lot about one of the legends of boat racing.
I got to get me one of those USA racing boats setup for 4 outboards (4-300X mercs should do).
Thanks for the tip Gary I didn't know about it until you said it.
Travis:cool:

[bulldogdaddy]

day late and 2 dollars short:mad: whens the replay?

[Steve Zuckerman]

A friend of mine here in Nashville owned a beautiful baby blue 18' Cigarette with a small block Volvo set up.
It had a large "Sugar" painted on the side. I asked him how he came up with the name.
He told me that he was the 3rd owner, and the the 2nd owner purchased it from one of Don's girlfriends. Seems Don was particularly fond of this gal, who he nicknamed "Sugar", and gave her the boat! What a guy :rolleyes:.............
Regards,
Steve ;)

[ncst8er]

"CITY CONFIDENTIAL® Miami Beach: Smugglers & Speedboats"

See http://www.aetv.com/tv/shows/city_confidential/

[Ro Yale]

Great guy. I met him in 1981 or 82, he let me walk all over the entire factory and check out all the boats. Got to sit in his office and talk with him. His office had trophies all over. He told me to be successfull at hot boats took a lot of time and staying with it. I'd love to see the show if it comes on again.
Later, Ro
P.S. There was a boat in one of the warehouses that was solid black. Everything was black eccept the red and green running lights. As I walked into the warehouse I couldn't even see the boat.:cool:

[rev.ronnie]

I believe the company that Kramer bought from Don was Apache Powerboats. He was building the boats for the drug runners and the D.E.A. It would be like selling guns to the criminals and the cops.

Don probably made more money selling boat companys, than he did selling boats.

Katrin Theodoli still owns Magnum Powerboats, her and her late husband Ted bought it from Don. Last I heard they were building 90 foot supercruisers for rich Arab dudes..real cool boats.

[Marcus]

Does anybody know the names and writers of the books that are written about him or the subject?

[sho305]

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-2920381-6911826?asin=0945903227

http://www.google.com/search?q=Don+Aronow&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N

They sell the shows for $25, but I don't see that one listed.

[Marcus]

Thanks sho305
I did a little search myself but the book seems to be "sold out" everywhere...

[Instigator]

Ronnie, you are correct. Aronow sold Apachee to the Kramers. Ben and his dad.

There are three books that I'm aware of and I think all three are out of print.
Here they are.
(in no paticular order)
#1. is "Don Aronow the King of Thunderboat Row" by his son Michael Aronow.
Mostly factually based and written with the slant that you would expect coming from his son. Maybe the best for the racing background and accomplishments although you feel the kids pain of knowing what the old man was really like. 1994
This one is a large hard back coffee table book with some great pixs.

#2. "Blue Thunder" (how the mafia owned and finally murdered cigarette boat king Don Aronow" written by Thomas Burdick & Charlene Mitchell 1990.
This one takes the most liberties as far as what the authors think or want you to think and the one that the people that knew Don say is mostly B.S.
This one is a standard size hard back and should probably be considered as mostly fiction.

#3. "Speed Kills" by Jay Harris 1998.
This is a smaller size yet 400+ page soft cover almost entirely factual based recounting of what happened and has 15 or so pixs also.
I own and read all of them and this one I could'nt finish becasue it totally destroyed the image of a guy that used to be one of my heros.
It is kind of dry reading even so as it is mostly copies of police reports, leads and notes.
So in that note it's 100% factual but remember all three of these books were writeen before they could prove Kramers hired gun did it.
The dark side of the business and Aronoows actions turned me away before I finished the book. If you are a Aronow fan be prepared to be depresed.

I found all three books at "Amazon.com" by looking for them as used books and even getting on a short wiating list for a couple of them.
Hope this helps,
Gary

[rev.ronnie]

It's interesting how people can get tied up with the wrong people for the wrong reasons and end up dead.

I won't even think of doing business with someone with a questionable background. I have far too many good, legit customers to even take the chance. Just think about guys like Mickey Thompsen and Don Aronow.


Hell, I won't even associate with someone who is unfaithful to their spouse or signifigant other. If they don't have any respect for that relationship, they will stab you in the back like nothing. Think about it, some dirtbag who cheats on his wife (and family), has already broken the vows of the most signifigant contract he has ever entered into, and screwing you over is just a walk in the park for him.

[Instigator]

perfectlly stated!

Go to offshoreonly.com and read one of their threads about "Power Play" offshore boats.
The owner of the company has screwed everybody that's anybody, has all kind of questionable (or worse) ties, is in court right now for everything from defaulted loans to boats that are paid for but don't exist.
Someone else is supposedly floating him financially (ala Don Aranow) so they can get access to a new mold he wants once the company crashs and burns.

[lilabner]

sorry guys..this is my hometown...Don never owned Apache..Kramer started Apache..he was a customer of mine as almost all the powerboat row Porsche owners were..Don sold Ben a company called USA Racing...the name Blue Thunder was owned by Customs..I've got all the books too and was around Don since 1968..Michaels book is the best..I got my copy from David Aronow, also a customer and friend..
It's a shame what Ben did to Don but Don played with fire and got burned..I could also write a book about the whole smuggler deal but it's best left buried..A lot of guys are going straight now and don't need the notoriety...most of them are really good guys that just liked the rush..much like the speed rush..

[rev.ronnie]

Hey didn't Aero-Tech pull the same stunt as Power Play? I heard they screwed everyone too, including ripping off Al Shiada out of a couple of engines and drives, and dozens of other people out of cash. The same story, four customers per actuall boat.

Lilabner, make sure if you do ever write a book to use a pen name, or it sounds like you will end up taking a dirt nap too!! You are right though, better let sleeping dogs "lie"..:)

[Instigator]

understood
The one thing I understand is how easy it is for all of us to pass judgement and say we would'nt go down that path butttt--
with that money, power, the boats, babes etc, etc. You want to believe.
I though for sure Apachee was a re-named Aronow company??

[dean jones]

How is franknrude doing these days? About ready for some warm weather i suppose. What was your top speed for the boat ?

[Instigator]

Can't tell you. Will have to show you:D
Kidding of course.
Best of 97/98 last season. Spent all Summer trying to dial boat set up (almost every step was backwards) and tune motor.
Had what I think was an igniton gremlin all season that would not let the motor pull up a big wheel.
It has run the fastest so far w/a 24/26" wheel (on a freagin JohnRude???) as the ignition was'nt strong egnough to "power" the bigger wheels up throough the mid range.
I am fairly confident (???) that I have the problem cured. Our weather is just starting to break here and as soon as the mud drys enough to get it out of the barn I will resume testing.
Am still 100% confident that it will run one ten to one teens when I finally get every thing right.
It gets to 97/98 way too quick for that to be all there is ;)
How about your project??
You've been kind of quiet lately?? I fessed up now how bout you:eek:
Hope all is gooing well!
Gary

[dean jones]

Well we spent the winter with the boat upside down working on the bottom. As you remember I am working on my second motor. Should have it ready soon I hope.

Which it don't matter our river is out of it's banks(or at lest it was when I left home about 2 weeks ago). we was running 94 mph with a 2.5 200 with a little compression. The motor we are working on now dynoed at 335hp before it was took apart due to a wreak. The motor wasn't hurt we are just checking it out and hoping for the same hp when we get it back togeather.Good to here from you again keep us posted on the progress and I wil try to stay in touch.

hoping me,u,and what's his name,oh yea G-man can get togeather and run.

[Instigator]

Hail Yeah!!
Call me. 614-866-8596
It would be awesome if we could all meet some where and do this??
We are a month or so from living in Fla and will have a spare room with your name on it.
I have a new 30" Spinelli Cleaver if you need to borrow a big wheel. (if you can turen it :eek: )
Be glad to hepl how ever I can.
Gary

[dean jones]

Where at in Fa. are you moving? I am in Ft. Lauderdale now. I work down here all the time. I am working from7pm to 7am right now but will give you a call soon. May have to borrow the 30sp. I don't have a wheel that big. I do more drag racing than top end. getting togather sounds great well make that happen. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP:) :) :)

[dean jones]

WELL HAVE TO GET G-MAN IN ON THIS TOO:D :D :D

[Instigator]

we hope to be down there for good in the next 30 - 60 days.
looking at anywhere from Ft.Myers to St.Pet and and accross the state east from both towns until you hit water. Employment will dictate exact location.
That's a 10/4 on G-Man too.
I can help you on drag set up too. I have mine launching pretty hard w/a 26.
You should see it or ride in it with a 24!
I just bought a real Yammi 22" to play with to for the real short courses.
My 26" Yammi copy is the best all around wheel I've run yet though. With as light as my hull is it launches hard enough to hold it's own against anybody and if you keep your foot on the floor it still runs 95/96.
Is the only wheel I've run so far that pulls that hard from a dig, stills flys the boat well and you don't have to lift when it transitions from being a boat to being a very low flying airplane:p
Heck, I'm giving away all my secrets. I'm thinkin we need to drag race and toss bricks on the gas pedal:eek:
Gary

[dean jones]

Where you talking about in FL. isn't bad. I live in Al. and work down here in the spring and fall. I work construction so I travel around alot. what kind of work do you do?

I ran a 22et,24yam,and a 26triton on my boat last year. The 24 ran the best. It ran 94 in the 1\4 on gps. havn't tried top end yet. I have a 22,2-24's, yam. and a 24 hoss wasp that I am going to try this year.

Does your boat come out with the bow way up in the air? I know i have seen alot of them look like they were thking off for the moon. Mine didn't with the other motor but i was woundering about this one. May have to move some weight around.

Thanks for the invite also. You get to Fl I will look you up.

[Instigator]

I'm in outside sales.

O.K., I'll give up all my scerets to you :) The Viking/Vector hull is notorious for shooting for the moon at hole shot.
I moved my battery to the bow, and installed a "planing aid" ;) and the boat will now launch flat and hard.
So far, my boat is the most fun when stomping it from about a 50 roll :eek:

[dean jones]

thanks for the help gator. I will be in touch

[FUJIMO]

Hail Yeah!!
Call me. 614-866-8596
It would be awesome if we could all meet some where and do this??
We are a month or so from living in Fla and will have a spare room with your name on it.
I have a new 30" Spinelli Cleaver if you need to borrow a big wheel. (if you can turen it :eek: )
Be glad to hepl how ever I can.
Gary
My oh my how things have changed huh gator...;)

[Instigator]

No doubt.
Yikes.


My oh my how things have changed huh gator...;)

[1954bmw]

Currently, two of those books, Don Aronow- King of Thunderboat Row, written by his son Michael Aronow are listed on ebay, one for $297.50 and the other for $355.75