Don Aronow

Donald Joel Aronow (March 3, 1927 – February 3, 1987) was an American designer, builder and racer of the famous Cigarette, Donzi, and Formula speed boats. He built speedboats for the His Imperial Majesty Shah of Iran, Charles Keating, Robert Vesco, Malcolm Forbes, and George H. W. Bush. President Lyndon Johnson - in retirement - owned several 16 ft. Donzi speedboats on his Texas ranch with which he would race his Secret Service agents. Having made his money in the construction business in New Jersey in the late 1950s, Aronow moved to Miami in 1961 where he began racing boats for a hobby. By the end of 1962, he had formed the Formula Marine boat company which he then sold and in 1964 he started Donzi Marine. In 1966, he founded Magnum Marine with Elton Cary and, in 1970, after campaigning his "The Cigarette" around the world and winning the World Championship, he started Cigarette Racing Team using his own designs. Having sold Cigarette for the last time (after having sold it and purchasing it back in the late 1970s), he formed USA Racing Team and built the Blue Thunders, 39-foot catamarans used by the United States Customs Service to patrol U.S. waters and run down illegal offshore activities, especially drug smuggling. Aronow's close friend at the time, Vice President George Bush, was a former Cigarette owner and was involved in testing out the 39-foot cats prior to government approval.from wikipedia