Don Aronow grew up in Brooklyn and always heard stories of the famous rum runner that operated out of Brooklynn in the 30's called....The Cigarette.
When he started racing his own boats many years later, he used the name on three of his race boats.
The first was a 233 Formula, that had a 409 cu in engine in it and he placed third in the 63 Miami to Key West race in it.
The boat is now owned by a HORBA member and has been restored to racing condition again, placing 1st in the single engine historic class, in the Don Aronow Memorial Race from Miami to Bimini and back in June 2008.
Thread: History of the sport
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08-25-2009 10:53 AMLight travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 10:57 AMThe second boat he called ...The Cigarette was a 28 foot Magnum.
And once again, he had the name on the transom, as the sides he had to use to both promote his new company...Magnum..... and remind people of his former company...Donzi.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 11:04 AMThe last and probably the most famous raceboat, was the 32 foot Cary that he raced to his last World Championship in 1969.....The Cigarette.
Almost everyone thinks it was a Cigarette boat, it was a Cary. Don only raced once race in his life in a Cigarette made boat, a 36 footer in a fun race in Miami out of the Jockey Club...yes, he won.
The last photo shows Don holding a model of this last Cigarette. Michael's son Michael has authorized a limited edition of only 100 copies of this 32 inch model to be made and sold through HORBA.
If anyone is looking for a nice Christmas present this year, check out the online store on the HORBA website.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 11:13 AM
Thanks Mike......HORBA has at least 30,000 images, that have been donated by many people, especially the complete photo library of John Crouse. John owned the libraries of Sal Mageuri and Ron Thibedeau also after their deaths. We lack the funding right now to be able to have them all scanned and put up on the sight, we are working a bit at a time as budgets permit.
We are working on a new book called...Blue Water Warriors. The history of offshore racing during the golden era of the deep vee hull...1970 to 1980.
Many of these photos come from the working files we are using.
The book will not be like SEARACE, but more like this thread, great photos and just short comments about them. Should be ready for Christmas shipping.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 11:31 AMSpeaking of decks.......when Billy Martin ordered a new 32 foot Magnum for the next racing season, Don didn't have a deck for it.......so he called his friend Dick Genth down at Thunderbird / Formula and asked if he would make him one from their 32 race boat decks molds....sure no problem.
When Billy in # 51 Magnum, Hustler and Eddie Lacarreau in the #8 Eight Ball, Thunderbird / Formula showed up at the starting line, they both had the same deck, but different bottoms.....the Magnum was better.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 11:39 AM
makes you proud to own one! great stuff
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08-25-2009 11:41 AMBOB NORDSKOG ....sure we all know he was publisher of Powerboat Magazine and a great offshore racer and innovator.....BUT how many have ever seen his personal pleasure boat that was equipped with a convertible top and air conditioning??
This is just an example of the type of person that offshore racing attracted, the person who always believed they had a better way of doing something and then trying to prove it to the world.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 11:52 AMIf you won a race back in the day, no one would accuse you of a walk in the park, you earned it, often over 200 or so miles of open ocean, not to speak of the quality of the competition.
Here is the start of one of the races. Closest to the camera was the 38 foot Larry Smith Scarab of Paul Clauser, SATISFACTION. This is the boat that Bill Elswick with Richie Powers throttling, took the Harmsworth Trophy in England later in the year.
Next out is Sammy James and Vince Fasano in VINCENTIVE. Sammy would run the boat so hard that Vince would often come back to the dock with is face in shreds from banging off the steering wheel. At a drivers meeting in Miami, we gave Vince a birthday cake in the shape of a steering wheel....and Sammy pushed his face in it. The Bertrams only had a 20 degree bottom vs the 24 degree of the other boats....we called it a flat bottom.
Next boat out with the flag is the start boat...it is a Schiada, so this is probably a West Coast race.
Behind the start boat in the far left of the photo is Billy Martin in the lightweight 39 foot Cigarette, BOUNTY HUNTER. He knew he had another 200 miles to go so he probably wasn't concerned with his location at the start.
Next boat, just in front of the start boat was a new guy just coming into the sport with a 37.6 foot Cigarette. His name was Al Copeland and he called his boat POPEYES after his chain of restaurants. In the boat with him was very experiecned throttleman, Bill Sirois and as navigator, Stan Ware who is still racing today in a Skater cat.
Next boat out was a guy who had this crazy idea that he had a better idea for drive systems. Howard Arneson was trying his new invention on his 38 foot Larry Smith Scarab, # 6 SEA SWEEP.
Next boat out was Charlie McCarthy in his 38 foot Banana Boat, #60, RUMS OF PUERTO RICO.
After turning down Bernie Little's offer for sponsorship the previous year, Charlie accepted the sponsorhship of the, Economic Development Office of the Comonwealth of Puerto Rico, to raise the American drinking public's awareness of rums from Puerto Rico.
Next to Charlie was Betty Cook in her 38 foot Larry Smith Scarab, KAAMA. John Conners was both crew chief and throttleman.
Not shown but most certainly there, would have been Joel Halpern in BEEP BEEP, Joey Ippolito in MICHELOB LIGHT, Bob Nordskog and Norm Teague in POWERBOAT MAGAZINE SPECIAL, Rocky Aoki in BENIHANA. Arnold Glass and Mel Riggs in COPPER KETTLE, Bill Elswick in LONGSHOT, Michel Maynard and Bob Idoni in FAYVA SHOES, and Jerry Jacoby with AJAC HAWK, the first ever 37.6 Cigarette that would later be known to the world as the Top Gun........plus a gathering of local racers with third and fourth hand 36 foot Cigarettes.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 03:03 PMCharlie thanks so much for taking the time to post all this information. It is great that you and the others at HOBRA are taking time out of your personal lives to preserve the
history of offshore, just fascinating stuff. I hope I can help you raise a little funds for
your cause
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08-25-2009 03:41 PMThanks Steve. We are still working with the publisher to try to get the price down....less color shots, smaller shots etc etc.
Once we finally have the price, we can start getting the word out and hopefully that will tell us if there is any interest in this style of book.
We would like to have the first copies available to the public at the races in Key West in November, that should take care of a lot of Christmas shopping for many.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 03:57 PMBILL WISHNICK World Champion in 1970. This is really one of the all time good guys that ever was in this sport.
He was a major multi millionaire and often dipped into his own pocket to make up purses or cover overhead for race committees. He was also a major party guy.
All the time he was the head of a major worlwide corporation. The year he won his championship, he did it just by usng his vacation days to travel to the differnet races all over the world.
When his boat broke in Argentina and his mechanic...Bobby Moore, told him that the engine couldn't be fixed, his closest competitor, Vincenzo Balestreri, went out and found a boat that he could use to race. Another time when Bill couldn't make a race, Vincenzo withdrew so he wouldn't have a unfair advantage in the points. It was the age of gentlemen.
The Big Broad Jumper shot below, is Bill in his aluminum Maritime boat....the cockpit looks crowded and it was, because right before the start he noticed the Jacoby girls, Rene and Gale had broken down. He invited them to ride with him and "enjoy the beautiful California coastline".
The other shot is his 36 foot Cigarette carrying the World Champion # 1 on the sides. This boat attracted the attention of someone who thought it would make a nice day boat. He bought it and converted it with a small cabin and used it on San Francisco Bay.......the racing bug must have bitten him hard as Howard Arneson would later become a racer in his own right.
PS Bill was the fist one to use a throttleman in an offshore race boat and that was Bobby Moore.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 04:03 PM
Keep going. This is the greatest stuff ever. How about some Rocky Aoki stories?
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08-25-2009 04:04 PMHOWARD ARNESON Shown below in Bill Wishnick's old Cigarette....now called Nauti Eve II.
Howard had a boat built by Dan Arena on the west coast, below and challenged in the early races.
He also had a Larry Smith Scarab with his new drive system, but it wasn't until he combined his new surface drive system with the catamaran design that he began to have big success.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-25-2009 04:21 PMI was very fortunate to be honored with some of the other old racers at the Point Pleasant race a couple of years ago. Rocky, Billy Martin, Bobby Saccenti, John Bochis, Rich Luhrs, Jerry Gilbreath and I'm sorry if I have forgotten anyone else.
Once again, it was another good guy for the sport, John Haggin who put the presentation together for all of us. Anyway Rocky and I were on the two pace boats and we had a good time together, like the old days. Me and Rocky and Bobby below on that weekend.
Rocky started out with a 28 foot Barcone and quickly moved into a 35 Cigarette and then into 38 foot Bertrams that he got for $1.00 from Bertram. They understood he could generate so much publicity, it was a great deal for them.
He was an offshore champion, a backgammon champion, a hot air balloon champion (he was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon) and an Olympic wrestler for Japan in the 60's. He started a Men's magazine to challenge Playboy..Genesis.
He loved life and was a great deal of fun at the races.Light travels faster than sound....that is why some people appear bright until we hear them speak!!
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08-27-2009 12:55 PMCharlie,
Wonderful photos! You have a great recollection for all of this, and it is great you are putting this stuff here for posterity!
I posted this over on offshoreonly, but thought I should repost it here.
Here's a photo I thought you'd enjoy seeing from the Benihana Grand Prix West in San Francisco in 1978.
Rocky only knew one way to run, and that was as hard and as fast as possible. The water was rough that year, and on the way out to the Farallons we broke the boat down the side and across the bottom partway to the keel. I think I have a picture of the damage, somewhere. This was the only race I navigated for Rocky. Actually, it was only half of a race, as I got hurt in the impact and had to get out at the Farallons check boat.
Bill Vogel, Rocky Aoki, and Errol Lanier before the 1978 San Francisco race
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08-27-2009 01:01 PMWelcome!!
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08-27-2009 01:27 PMWelcome Bill, great to see you here. Can't wait to hear some of your stories. I was a west coast boy, Portland, Oregon, up until 1987. You're stint in POPBRA was a good one, who says West Coast guys didn't know about East Coast water back then.......
Hope everyting is going A-Okay, any chance we'll get to see you in Key West or one off the other events this year?
Rich, Brownie, Charlie, Pepe, etc. probably all have stuff to chat about with you.....
Can't wait.
Again, welcome.Getting bad advice is unfortunate, taking bad advice is a Serious matter!!