Miami Herald

March 23, 1989

FAST DREAMS

LISA GIBBS - Herald Staff Writer

N. Dade street is boat mecca Thunder Boat Row began in the early 1960s as a dream of speed and power.

Don Aronow, a bored millionaire at age 30, left a career building homes and businesses in New Jersey to build the fastest and most powerful boats in the world. In his 24-year pursuit of the ultimate rough water machine, Aronow transformed a street of empty land and cement companies in Northeast Dade into the international headquarters for a multimillion-dollar industry.

Two years after Aronow was gunned down by the unknown driver of a dark blue Lincoln Continental Town Car on the very street he made famous, his legacy of speed and power remains in the boat companies he founded along Northeast 188th Street.

And from Brazil to the Netherlands, from Japan to Italy, Northeast 188th Street is known to racers and fans by many names: Gasoline Alley, High Performance Road, Fleet Street, Thunder Boat Row. That name will become even more famous as an ABC-TV pilot, Thunder Boat Row.

It stands for just as many things: Speed, the kind of breathtaking speed that either kills men or makes them heroes, and power, the kind of power one feels having spent a tremendous amount of money to race through the waves at high speeds.

"It's an ego trip. It's one-upmanship," says A.J. Roberts, a world champion racer who runs Boss Racing Team. "That's all this street is about. Fast toys."

And sexy ones, if you believe the ad hanging in the Cigarette Racing Team office: "We cannot promise to loosen every lady's libido. But the name Cigarette does seem to send a message to those more adventurous."

Libidos aside, there's no doubt these boats mean success, money, luxury and money. Prices for the boats made on Northeast 188th Street start at about $100,000 for the smallest Cigarette and go up to a staggering $2 million for a top-of-the-line Magnum.

Although the products are as glamorous as their owners, their manufacturing plants are not. Most of the street's employees pick up their tools and go to work about 7 a.m. and finish about 3 p.m. Sales managers' days last much longer. Calls come in around the clock from around the world. The days are endless processions of details: shape, size, color, design, cost.

The boat yards, cluttered with tools and parts, smell of wood and glue. At Cigarette, stockrooms are filled with things like fog horns, fog bells, pumps and panels. An entire room is filled with propellers.

Cigarette, Aronow's fourth and most famous boat-building company, is Thunder Boat Row's largest, with four plants churning out eight models of sleek boats 21 to 41 feet long. Here, boats are built from bottom up. Nothing is imported. Cigarette even makes its own upholstery.

"We're the only real boat company on the street," said President Bob Gowens.

And the most famous in boat racing circles: Aronow broke a world speed record at 90.555 miles an hour with the Cigarette in Italy. And the most infamous in law enforcement circles: The boat became the favorite of modern drug runners.

"There's no question that go-fasts have been used for illicit activities, but the truth of it is, that's old news," Gowens said. "Unfortunately, it captures people's attention and does a disservice to my customers." Customers include President Bush and Malcolm Forbes, he adds.

Northeast 188th Street begins at Magnum Marine, which Filippo "Ted" Theodoli bought from Aronow in 1976. The 27-foot Magnum was created 23 years ago by Aronow and named after a brand of champagne. It was the first modern deep-vee ocean racer.

Theodoli makes mostly 40-foot and bigger boats now and concentrates on striking a balance between speed and luxury. A 70-footer under construction has three bedrooms and bathrooms, gold light fixtures and door handles, furniture from Italy, a full stereo system and television that can receive signals from Europe and United States. Miles per hour: 55. Price: $1.69 million.

"We don't build a mass production boat," Theodoli said. "We build boats for reputable, very rich people. We strive for perfection."

Next door at Boss Racing Team and Cougar Boats, Roberts makes 18 models of "go-as-fast-as-you- want-to" boats. A devout racer, Roberts wears his 1985 World Championship jacket and a gold racing boat engraved with his lucky number (113) around his neck.

Roberts' boat yard is the former Donzi Marine, Aronow's second boat company. Roberts remembers Aronow and the adventures he brought to Northeast 188th Street. Once, testing the turning radius of a new creation, Aronow decided to race the boat down a canal past other boat companies on Northeast 188th Street and try a U-turn. He got up to 89 mph, Roberts said, before realizing he wasn't going to make it.

"He stopped six coats of paint short of Hi Lift (Marina, on Northeast 187th Street)," Roberts said. "He did a few things I don't know if I would do, but he swore up and down I was nuttier than he was. You miss that. You have very few people, if any, left on this street (who) race. He was crazy."

Roberts is expanding his business and looking for bigger headquarters. He wants to make boats for the general public, not just for boat racers or the military. But, he says, he will never leave Thunder Boat Row.

"I would never dream of that," he said. "Northeast 188th Street is the street recognized throughout the world for its go- fast boats. You have to have a presence here."