Joe Huffaker Sr. began building hot rods as a teenager in the late 1940s. His first sports car build was a 1954 Austin Healy “Huffaker Special” driven by Mickey Marston, which launched Huffaker Sr. onto the Northern California road racing scene and began a journey that included induction to SCCA’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
Huffaker Sr., who first joined SCCA in 1962 as a member of the San Francisco Region, passed away Friday, February 25, at the age of 95 years old.
“He passed away peacefully and comfortably surrounded by family at his own home,“ said his son, 2020 SCCA Hall of Fame inductee Joe Huffaker Jr. “He lived an extraordinary life. He did what he was so good at doing, and the racing world has certainly lost a legend.”
For nearly 40 years, Huffaker Sr. was one of the most successful racecar constructors. In 1959, he joined British Motor Cars in San Francisco to open a competition department. Known as BMC Competition Department, this effort spawned a very successful string of cars including BMC Formula Juniors and Genie Sports Racers. During this era, BMC Competition Department became one of the largest racecar manufacturers in the United States.
From 1964 to 1966, Huffaker’s attention turned toward Indianapolis 500 competition. He helped build the famous MG Liquid Suspension Specials, for which he received an engineering award for design and development. Huffaker Sr. also helped develop safety technology in the form of the deformable fuel cell.
In 1966, Huffaker Sr. went out on his own and established Huffaker Engineering. He was contracted to build factory sponsored cars for British Leyland and the Jaguar Rover Triumph Group. The cars campaigned included the MGB, MG Midget, MGC, Austin Healey 3000 and Jaguar, as well as Triumph TR7 and TR8 cars. He was also the factory works team for Jensen Motors.
His masterful work produced 12 SCCA National Championships. His car won the 1982 Trans Am Championship with Elliott Forbes-Robinson behind the wheel. Beginning in 1985, Huffaker Sr. produced 15 factory works Pontiac Fieros for the IMSA GTU series where team driver Bob Earl scored 10 wins and 16 poles. In 1985, Huffaker Sr. joined with Bruce Qvale to form Huffaker-Qvale Motorsports. They won the Trans Am Championship in 2000 with driver Brian Simo.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in the name of Joe Huffaker Sr. to Guide Dogs for the Blind.
