Huffaker: American Racing Royalty, Part 2

In Part 1, we took a look at the beginnings of the Huffaker legend, with the ferocious Formula Juniors and the Genie sports racers. In this, the final installment, we explore the Huffaker’s time at Indy and their contributions to American sports car racing.

INDY AND FORMULA CARS

One of the most interesting projects that Huffaker did for Kjell Qvale was the series of MG Liquid Suspension Specials (Genie Mk 9) built for the Indy 500. The first three were built for the 1964 race, and were unique in using MG 1100 “hydrolastic” suspension bags at all four corners for springing. Thus, the “MG Liquid Suspension Special” moniker was created. However, unlike the MG sedan from which they were derived, the inboard-mounted bags were not interconnected front and rear. A tubular space frame was built from 4130 steel mated to the old, faithful 4.2-liter Offy four-banger driving through a two-speed Halibrand gear box. The rocker-arm suspension was offset 2in to the left to help counteract the left-hand turns at Indy. No shock absorbers were fitted at the front, but a pair were added to the rear suspension to control oscillation. With a weight of 1,252 pounds and 411 hp at 6,300 rpm, it was fast!