Don Aronow on ESPN 30 for 30..........
09-26-2013 | 02:21 AM
#32
Registered
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 15,491
Likes: 7
From: LAKE CONROE, TX
It was the day before the Hennessy Gran Prix. I pulled into Kings Grant Inn with my 28 Cig. That was race headquarters.
Cruising in to the docks Don was standing on the deck of a 46 or 58' Bertram Sportfish with his chick Missy.
I saw him and pulled next to the bow of the Bertam and looked up, WAY UP at him and said ,hey Don want to go for a ride?
He leaped down from the bow of the boat onto my deck.( It was a long drop) Landed on his feet &,climbed over the windshield
Took the wheel and up the Manasquan river wide open we ran chasing his friend Doc Magoon in Docs 39 Cig raceboat
He said don't worry if it blows I'll buy you a new engine
The man had no fear of anything!
Cruising in to the docks Don was standing on the deck of a 46 or 58' Bertram Sportfish with his chick Missy.
I saw him and pulled next to the bow of the Bertam and looked up, WAY UP at him and said ,hey Don want to go for a ride?
He leaped down from the bow of the boat onto my deck.( It was a long drop) Landed on his feet &,climbed over the windshield
Took the wheel and up the Manasquan river wide open we ran chasing his friend Doc Magoon in Docs 39 Cig raceboat
He said don't worry if it blows I'll buy you a new engine
The man had no fear of anything!
09-26-2013 | 07:14 AM
#33
Platinum Member
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 931
Likes: 0
From: Little River SC
This is a great, refreshing, thread. It is very interesting to hear the history and stories from the past. We have many great boat manufactures and the engineering that goes into what we have today. What would have Don Aronow, accomplished from then to now and would the offshore racing, still be the big water racing of the past?
I grew up in the north east of Ohio, and had never seen an offshore power boat, only your family lake boats. This sport was only known to me by Miami Vice, at that point I was hooked and at that time if you said ; Don Aronow, I would have said; WHO? I might have been moving to Florida, looking for a job. L.O.L
Stories to be told; finishing a race bruised, pissing blood, sore muscles. Repairing the hull from cracked stringers and fiberglass and needing a navigator, to find your way around the course.
Would "Thunder Boat Row " still be there today if Aronow, were still alive or would he have been forced to sell to the development market of South Florida.
Would love to hear more.
I grew up in the north east of Ohio, and had never seen an offshore power boat, only your family lake boats. This sport was only known to me by Miami Vice, at that point I was hooked and at that time if you said ; Don Aronow, I would have said; WHO? I might have been moving to Florida, looking for a job. L.O.L
Stories to be told; finishing a race bruised, pissing blood, sore muscles. Repairing the hull from cracked stringers and fiberglass and needing a navigator, to find your way around the course.
Would "Thunder Boat Row " still be there today if Aronow, were still alive or would he have been forced to sell to the development market of South Florida.
Would love to hear more.
09-26-2013 | 11:47 AM
#34
Registered
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Very interesting, great story....to bad his life ended this way, but then again if it ended in a boat crash would we still be bringing up his storied life after all these years. Don lives on.....
Last edited by mikep687; 09-26-2013 at 02:34 PM.
09-26-2013 | 11:54 AM
#35
Registered
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 785
Likes: 85
From: Lake Wallenpaupack, PA
I have to admit, I have a major fascination with the history and the "lifestyle" of Don Aronow and the people involved in boatbuilding/racing/drug running from the 80s in Miami. I'm a HUGE fan of Miami Vice ever since I was a kid and I have read all of the books about Don Aronow and Thunder Boat Row. I love to read stories about Don and his companies as well as Apache and the rest of the "big boys" of the era. I remember reading about Tom Gentry way back when and his turbo engines. I always dreamed of living that lifestyle! The lifestyle portrayed in Miami Vice was very glamorous!
09-26-2013 | 12:07 PM
#36
Registered
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,480
Likes: 2
From: Wyandotte, MI
If someone tried to make a TV series that Glamorised that lifestyle these days, all the "do good" freaks would have it pulled off the air before they finished the pilot... I too was (and still am) a huge Miami Vice fan.
