Don Aronow is a name synonymous with both US powerboat design and racing. Born in New Jersey to establish his ´kingdom´ in Miami Florida, Don Aronow is one of the all time great names related to powerboating.
Don Aronow was born on March 3 1927 as Donald Joel Aronow. He was both a designer and racer of powerboat brands that are still out there like cigarette and Donzi. Apart from that, Don also raced and built Formula speed boats. Amongst his famous clientele there were people lik His Imperial Majesty Shah of Iran, Malcolm Forbes and George H. W. Bush. Also President Lyndon Johnson – in retirement – owned several Donzies designed by Don Aronow that he would used to race wiht his Secret Service agents. At the time of Don Aronow’s murder, February 3 1987, Don Aronow’s fame had risen to such a level that 188th street in Miami, the place where his boat businesses operated from, was dubbed Thunderboat Row.
Coming from the New Jersey construction business, Don Aronow moved to Miami in 1961 where he began racing powerboats as a hobby. Late 1962 Mr. Aronow started constucting boats in the Formula Marine boat company. This company was sold off to start Donzi Marine in 1964. 1966 was the year Magnum Marine was started together with Elton Cary. After winning the World Championship in 1970 he started the Cigarette Racing Team racing with his own designs. After selling off Cigarette in the late 1970’s, Don Aronow formed USA Racing Team and built the Blue Thunders, used by the United States Customs Service, these 39 foot catamarans patrolled the American waters.
The success in the powerboat racing world of the Aronow designs also drew the attention of smugglers. Cigarettes, because of their great speed, were for a long time the boats of choice among drugs runners.
As said, Don Aronow’s life ended on February 3, 1987 on Thunderboat Row in Miami where he was shot after leaving a meeting with Bob Saccenti, part owner of Apache Powerboats.
The Aronow designs have won over 350 offshore races and the man himself was a World Champion 2 times and 3 times U.S. Champion. Don Aronow and Gar Wood are also the only two American to have received the Gold Medal of Honor of the U.I.M., the sports governing body.
Source: http://www.wikipedia.org
