Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki was a man who loved life. Best known for the first Benihana, teppenyaki restaurant in New York, opening and expansion throughout the United States and the world to become probably the most well known Japanese restaurant in history, Aoki was more of a famous franchisor and chef. He was an avid fan of racing speedboats and 1975 created and sponsored the Grand Prix of Benihana Offshore.
Aoki, descendant from samurai who once trained to fight in the Olympics of Rome in 1960, had no intention of letting her passion for competition and sport go to rust after starting rolling in money from its restaurants.Just the opposite, Aoki has been involved in sport more high performance high price, specifically motoryachting. has financed and named after its activity, its boat race that ran off the shore of Point Pleasant, New Jersey.
Unlike patrons in its restaurants that were able to sit and enjoy the show, since 1979 Aoki has decided to compete in his race. Using a catamaran cougar 38-ft long, ran and won.Serious injuries per year and in 1982, however, end the career of motorboats of Aoki, nearly killing him.
Never one to lead a peaceful quiet existence, Aoki later in life he raced hot air balloons. He was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean from Japan to California in a balloon. While many see the founder Benihana as a great entrepreneur, he was a man of many interests and skills as a runner powerboat success and paradoxically, Aoki was as theatrical as its restaurants.
Sample of offshore powerboat racing, hot air balloon world record holder, Olympic wrestler qualified and recipient of The International Center of New York Award of Excellence, Aoki lived and loved until his death in 2008 at the age of 69.
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