Story of mysterious Scat Cat hydroplane begins here

Episode 332

September 20, 2020

The mystery of who constructed Scat Cat, the hydroplane

It seems that many like the appeal of a good mystery story, I too concur. This mystery story began in two separate locations with what turns out to be one common factor. The mystery is still to be solved, yet the backstory lends itself nicely to the potential solving of the mystery.

One part of the mystery to be solved, began in April 1957 with the publishing of Science and Mechanics Magazine, the magazine that shows you how.

Somebody utilized the plans from this April 1957 Science and Mechanics Magazine to build a Scat Cat hydroplane recently uncovered in a potato house in Aroostook County. Who built the original is the mystery. Fran Cyr found the original issue on Ebay. Part one of his story as a restorer follows.(HTF Motorsports photo)

The magazine cover featured a boat called Scat Cat. The tagline stated” Build a record busting 3-point racing hydro”. The article and plan were drawn up by naval architect William Jackson. As was the practice in those days and to a certain extent today, the Scat Cat hydro was built with mahogany plywood and mahogany lumber in multiple locations in the boat. The build list included a couple glues that are still in use today, Weldwood and Elmer’s Waterproof Glue.

Page 144 of Science and Mechanics Magazine April 1957 showing the reader how to build the Scat Cat hydroplane. The author is William Jackson, a naval architect. (HTF Motorsports photo)

Here is the mystery…someone, probably in the Fort Fairfield area, which was one of the hotbed locations for hydro racing in Aroostook County, built a Scat Cat which eventually ended in storage. Don’t want to get ahead of myself until I fill you in on the other side of the story which is not a mystery. Hopefully you will see the connection between our mystery hydro builder and Caribou native, Fran Cyr.

Fran Cyr, race boat designer/restorer/builder Part 1

Before we reveal the Cyr/Mystery builder/ Scat Cat part of the story some information about the person who would eventually take the responsibility to restore a portion of the County hydro racing story.

Fran Cyr’s first venture into cars and boats that go fast was this Western Flyer from Western Auto. His sister Lou does not look impressed. (Cyr Family Collection)

Fran Cyr was born in 1958, the youngest child of Ulysses and Bernice Cyr. Ulysses, an Army veteran from the Pacific in World War II, worked at Fraser Paper in Madawaska with some hydro racers you may recall from previous episodes, Don McDermott and Pee Wee Cyr. Pee Wee’s son, Greg, who also was a racer contributed some facts about hydro races in the County that I have utilized.

As far as I am able to determine Ulysses was not a hydro racer. Unfortunately, he died in an industrial accident at the mill when Fran was only 9 months old. His mother died from cancer when Cyr was only 10. He was raised by his step-father Harvard Holmquist until age 14 when his older brother Dave and wife Debbie took over.

The Caribou High School Band and work at JC Penney store in Caribou took up most of his free time during his high school years. When he graduated in 1976, he headed off to Husson College where he earned a degree in Business Administration in 1980.

Cyr did not follow a typical ‘gearhead’ pathway in life. No auto mechanics or woodworking in high school. He remarked, “None of the above, except around the winter of 1988 I did take an Adult Ed Class on canoe construction from Peter Albert at Presque Isle Adult Ed.  I learned enough to get started, though I didn’t complete the class (finish the canoe we were building). Then I designed and built the Tide boat.”

“You don’t have to be a woodworker to build a canoe, just don’t expect the first one you build to be a gem, but you will sure learn a lot from the experience.”

Fran Cyr with his first floating vessel constructed by him for use at the lake. (Cyr Family Collection)

As a young man between the end of his junior and before his senior year in high school, he picked up his first car. “I bought a 72 Chevelle in 1975. It was a repainted Heavy Chevy (by Tommy Morin, a local painter who was the go-to-guy for screaming paint jobs in those days) with a bench seat and 3 on the floor. I had 14-inch BF Goodrich T/A 50s on the back, with headers and a 500 Holley two barrel. It would go and handled like crap. No power steering. Did a bit of drag racing on the street.”

Purchased from Northern Sales in Caribou between his junior and senior years at Caribou High School was this 1972 Chevelle. David Cyr adorns the hood of the muscle car. (Cyr Family Collection)

Cyr owned several motorcycles including a 1982 Honda XL500 which he labeled a “stump pulling Cadillac of the dirt roads”.

The Christmas tree at New England Dragway, Epping, New Hampshire. After NHRA returned to New England Dragway in 2012, Cyr became a loyal follower of that NHRA race. (Cyr Family Collection)

The sounds, sights, as well as smells of big-time motorsports has not escaped Cyr. He has attended several national level motorsports races and events. “Back when NASCAR was really popular, we would go to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Busch races. I’m not into the big crowds and getting tickets to Winston Cup races back then was kind of tough anyway.”

“When the NHRA returned to Epping (2012) some buddies and I got together and went down to check it out. Now it’s almost a yearly tradition for us to go”

The boat side of the story

Somewhere around eight years of age, Cyr saw his first actual hydroplane in a shed at Don McDermott’s camp at Long Lake. Unbeknownst to Cyr, while he was still a youngster, he saw his first hydroplane races at Monson Pond in Fort Fairfield during Potato Blossom Festival. He was probably watching Glenn Campbell in his hydro. Campbell would play a key role in this mystery later in Cyr’s life. (Campbell was featured in a two part series earlier this year in UpNorth Motorsports)

The races at Long Lake and Van Buren on the St. John River in the 80’s were also watched with interest as racers from across the United States invaded the north country in search of valuable points in their quest for championships.

After graduating from Husson College in 1980, Cyr went to work for Potato Service in Presque Isle until 1983. While at Potato Service, one of his friends and he decided to try their hand at canoeing at a local race, the Madawaska Stream Race in Stockholm, Maine.

Prior to this event Fran, along with his brother Chuck, spent hours fishing and canoeing on the Machias River while growing up. He would also experience paddling on Cross Lake for pleasure.

He was no stranger to the water when in 1982, David Buzzell and he entered the Madawaska Stream Race. Cyr described it this way, “My first canoe race was with Dave Buzzell in the 1982 Stockholm Legion Madawaska Stream Race. They gave out prizes then; we didn’t win anything.”

“Canoe racing got more serious in 1983 with Steve Gudreau and it was when I purchased my first Wenonah Canoe from Partners in Sports. I raced Wenonah Canoes up until I started building my own canoes.”

“In 1988 at Hanover, New Hampshire”, noted Cyr about the national level race. “I raced a Wenonah J180 and my C-2 Marathon Cruiser which is the Kevlar boat in my garage.”

Several years later, “In 2002 at Hanover I raced a Bear Mountain Boats C-1 designed by Steve Killing. the one I’m holding up with one hand.”

Fran Cyr with his 30 pound Bear Mountain Boats inspired C1. Building cedar strip racing canoes that were lightweight and fast became a hallmark of the Cyr Racing Canoe adventure. (Cyr Family Collection)

The class at Presque Isle High School introduced Cyr to the techniques of building cedar strip canoes. It is amazing that the process begins with rip-sawing 5/32-inch-thick strips of cedar used to construct the light weight racing canoes built by Cyr.

“I built my first canoe, the Tide Boat, the winter of 91-92. I had drawn up the plans freestyle on graph paper. It was supposed to be a white-water racer. It didn’t have enough volume for white water and wasn’t very fast in deep water so I later took a chalk line to it and cut down the sides and made it into a shallow water racer.”

Fran Cyr and his 10 year-old daughter Nicole,  pass the husband and wife team of  Rob and Lehrle Kieffer at the 2004 Stockholm American Legion Madawaska Stream Race. The racing canoe was the first constructed by Cyr. The boat colors were chosen to match the Ricky Craven Tide race car scheme. (Cyr Family Collection)

A better view of the Ricky Craven Tide paint scheme. This was the Houlton Meduxnekeag race with Dave McCrossin in stern and Fran Cyr at the bow. Fran inspired Dave to such an extent that McCrossin is now building his own cedar strip canoes. (Carol Blood photo)

Part Two in Two weeks don’t miss it!

Part 2 of the mystery will be posted in two weeks. You do not want to miss the craftsmanship that is involved in making cedar strip racing canoes. Fran Cyr has built 15!

The reason I will not be publishing next weekend

Next Saturday, I am taking part in The Return, National and Global Day of Prayer and Repentance. Information can be found at http://THERETURN.ORG

Sunday the Statewide “If My People” based on 2 Chronicles 7:14 will be taking place at the Celebration Center in Fort Fairfield, Maine at 6 pm. More information  http://ifmypeopleNE.org

Let’s go racing

Tom Hale

Soli Deo Gloria (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Tom Hale

About Tom Hale

Tom wrote 14 years as freelancer for the Bangor Daily Sports covering motorsports in Maine. Now blogging and concentrating on human interest stories about people and places in racing. He races Champ Karts and owns HTF Motorsports in remote Westmanland, Maine