Cigarette and Miss Geico – a formidable pairing

by Bob Wonders on 7 May 2010 If there's a performance boat marque that needs very little in the way of introduction it's surely the legendary breed founded in North Miami Beach by the late Don Aronow, Cigarette, or, to use its full name, Cigarette Racing Team, Inc.

Aronow, of course, is gone, gunned down by a rival on the dusty street that will forever be remembered as ‘Thunderboat Row', North East 188th Street, North Miami Beach.

The street, too, is gone, or certainly the way it once looked has gone, now occupied by high rise apartments rather than several of the world's top performance boat builders.

Fortunately, Cigarette is anything but ‘gone'; it may have moved from its former home, but only a few kilometres and to a brand new, purpose-built plant under its new owner, dynamic businessman Skip Braver.

Cigarette now calls Opa-Locka home, an industrial suburb within the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area; its name is believed to mean ‘big swamp' in the language of the Native American Seminole Indians of the region.

With Skip Braver calling the shots, the Cigarette Racing Team is never far from its next headline-grabbing promotion.

At the recent (February) Miami International Boat Show, I was privileged see one of these promotions first hand- the AMG Mercedes-Benz link with the famous performance boat.

Now, Cigarette has joined forces with AMF (America Moving Forward) Offshore Racing, which campaigns the ‘super quick' catamaran Miss Geico, a thundering, 3700hp ‘monster' capable of nearly 200mph (322km/hr) and recognised as the world's fastest offshore racer.

Cigarette's sleek mono hulls are not about to throw out a challenge to the turbine-powered, carbon/Kevlar built 44-foot catamaran; rather Cigarette has joined the team and provided a Cigarette Top Gun 38 with 1050hp courtesy of Mercury Racing.

The Top Gun, with a top speed in the region of 90mph (144km/hr) has been given the Miss Geico graphics and christened ‘Caveman'.

‘Caveman' will serve as the team VIP boat and will do duty as a pace boat for the start of several offshore events.

According to Cigarette, the Top Gun 38 has been the most popular model from the illustrious company for nearly three decades.

It is best described as a classic deep vee and is powered by dual MerCruiser 525hp EFI engines.

As Skip Braver points out, speed is important, but safety, reliability and long-term durability are vital.

'Factors like that are now always found with a race boat that is pushed continually to its absolute maximum, but racing or recreation, here at Cigarette we value dependability and that's why we link with Mercury Marine's engines,' he explained.

The engines used in ‘Caveman' are generally regarded as the comprising the most reliable and maintenance-free package available from Mercury Racing.

For further information visit the websites, www.cigaretteracing.com or www.missgeicoracing.com