Don Aronow exit was a surprise to most

**Instigator** · 02-27-2023, 07:54 PM

I read it was the government.

Originally Posted by LakeFever

The govt cancelled their contract or pressured Don to cancel Kramers contract?

**LakeFever** · 02-27-2023, 08:17 PM

If the govt cancelled their contracts why wouldnt Don just build Kramers boat? What motive would he have not to simply fullfill the order and avoid starting up a beef?

**FUJIMO** · 02-27-2023, 09:10 PM

...the above picture of the warpath 41, of the second/lower boat, the "b69" boat, was not built by ben kramers apache boat company in hollywood. it had nothing to do with the original ben kramer apache. it is a stepped bottom boat that benny never made. the molds for this boat were tooled later in the 90's by a company named "nu-tech", who asked bob saccenti to put his name on/endorse($), which he did. they only built a couple boats if i remember. it was of course painted as a tribute boat, to look like the original ben kramer warpath, which bobby always throttled in, with ben, all over the world. there were a few companies that came about like this after ben went away, to ride on the apache's coatails & huge noteriety of the day...

**powerabout** · 02-28-2023, 01:27 AM

I only have 2 cousins that grew up in Boca/Lickerdale but when they were at school I was amazed at how many of their school friends said oh, dad got caught with a boat load, got 12 months.
As my Uncle (RIP) used to say ( long time Ft Lauderdale lawyer), their isnt a restaurant or gas station that wasnt funded by a boat ride in this town.

**Instigator** · 02-28-2023, 07:16 AM

Was no longer his company when it happened.

Laughed all the way to the bank, likely believing he was untouchable.
The historians say his M.O. was to then buy the companies back at .50c on the dollar.
Said he’d done some companies 2 or 3 times.

Originally Posted by LakeFever

If the govt cancelled their contracts why wouldnt Don just build Kramers boat? What motive would he have not to simply fullfill the order and avoid starting up a beef?

**Instigator** · 02-28-2023, 07:23 AM

Always infatuated w/that era of boat racing, especially while living down there.

Heard many, many stories.

An interesting one from x law enforcement, told me back in that day, there was a dead sport in local airports radar coverage on the north edge of Ft Pierce.

Claimed that drug filled planes would disappear off radar, land, offload then takeoff, reappearing on radar 15 mins later!

Very thick, deep, colorful history from the time.

**JBS** · 02-28-2023, 08:55 AM

Powerboating attracts a colorful cast of characters. Sometimes it doesn't end well.

**hellbents-10** · 02-28-2023, 08:57 AM

A friend told me something when I was young and it stuck regarding things like this. When your on that path to easy dirty money like that there is only two ways out in the end, death or prison.

**powerabout** · 02-28-2023, 09:28 AM

I used to love the Mercruiser service bulletins ( issued on OZ for some reason) please notify the USCG on the following number if a customer is paying cash for the following parts...MCM 3 drive ssm, 460 engines etc etc

**LakeFever** · 02-28-2023, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Instigator

Was no longer his company when it happened.

Laughed all the way to the bank, likely believing he was untouchable.
The historians say his M.O. was to then buy the companies back at .50c on the dollar.
Said he’d done some companies 2 or 3 times.

Now that makes sense and it echoes what i was told when it happened. During this period i was nowhere near the south except for the odd vacation. A former colleague of mine was in Fla and not a racer but a cig boat owner. He told me the story was selling off a championship winning boat co. Only to already have another lined up that was faster. This bad faith sale tactic is what led to his demise. Im digging in the memory vaults for this heresay story so if im wrong im wrong but it is something i was told eons ago.

as a small aside being a speed junky all my life. Theres two types of speed junkies as i see it. Ones like me who are strictly in it for the fix of speed. The adrenaline. The time shifting. All of that visceral element stuff. Then theres the ones who cement the winning into their ego and that is the juice that fuels them. In this arena i have known guys who were so scared of speed, truly horrified by it. But their passion to win was greater than their fears. Almost like two squirrels fighting inside their head. Fascinating and really courageous men too i admire their ability to work past whatever mental blocks they had to go that fast. I could unpack this stuff here for a few chapters but you guys all know this anyways.

rip Don

**David** · 02-28-2023, 03:27 PM

Maybe not a surprise to everyone... His business practices were on the edge of shady, he spent a lot of time with other men's wives, and he sold boats to both drug trafficker's and enforcement agencies. The link states that they had 140 suspects.

The mystery behind the death of powerboat racing champion Don Aronow (boatinternational.com)

"He was formidably competitive both on and off the water, brutally handsome and adroit at negotiating the line between the legal and the illicit – at least until the very end. A ruthless businessman, he equally relished a challenge in his personal life; “He’d f--- your wife in a second,” said powerboat Hall of Fame racer and boatbuilder Allan “Brownie” Brown, author of Tales from Thunderboat Row. Celebrated yacht designer Michael Peters, who went to work for Aronow the day before he died, said, “He was an asshole, but he was my asshole – a benefactor for whom I’ll always be grateful.”

**RBT** · 02-28-2023, 06:05 PM

Find the book Blue Thunder, it is worth the read.

**Instigator** · 02-28-2023, 06:48 PM

Yeah I’m double sided on my feelings of him.

Side 1 is, he was a bad ass!
He raced no mater what and raced to win.

And built his own boats, CO’s etc.

He was the real deal.

Side 2 was, you couldn’t trust the guy as far as you could throw him.

I thought for sure his murderer would be found to be the husband of a married lover.

Rumor is, he had a hidden apartment at the Cigarette factory so he could bed the wives of his friends, customers wives/girlfriends.

And yeah, you live like that (I’ve known many) it’s not if, but when life catches up w/you.

Originally Posted by David

Maybe not a surprise to everyone... His business practices were on the edge of shady, he spent a lot of time with other men's wives, and he sold boats to both drug trafficker's and enforcement agencies. The link states that they had 140 suspects.

The mystery behind the death of powerboat racing champion Don Aronow (boatinternational.com)

"He was formidably competitive both on and off the water, brutally handsome and adroit at negotiating the line between the legal and the illicit – at least until the very end. A ruthless businessman, he equally relished a challenge in his personal life; “He’d f--- your wife in a second,” said powerboat Hall of Fame racer and boatbuilder Allan “Brownie” Brown, author of Tales from Thunderboat Row. Celebrated yacht designer Michael Peters, who went to work for Aronow the day before he died, said, “He was an asshole, but he was my asshole – a benefactor for whom I’ll always be grateful.”

**David** · 02-28-2023, 06:58 PM

People are complicated. Mr Aronow accomplished a lot. I did not mean to diminish his achievements by pointing out that his murder was not a surprise to all. It's sort of like sports in that I don't expect my favorite athletes to be model citizens.

Blue Thunder is not available from the Orillia Public Library but is available used from Amazon.ca for $30 Cdn.

**powerabout** · 03-01-2023, 03:35 AM

His name ended up on a kill list with a price via the Colombians, so a low level guy with a debt got the job to clear his debt.
With no connection to the victim it took a while to find him