The Coffee Critic at Lime Rock
2 June 1999
THE COFFEE CRITIC AND HUFFAKER/QVALE LEAD AT LIME ROCK PARK, FINISH SECOND FOR BEST FINISH OF ‘99 The #84 Coffee Critic Cobra of Chris Neville took the lead from Brian Simo at midrace, and eventually finished a fine second today, while the #47 Coffee Critic Cobra of Dorsey Schroeder started 13th and finished 6th as the two-car Huffaker/Qvale Motorsports team contested the third round of the Sports Car Club of America’s BFGoodrich Tire Trans-Am Series at Lime Rock Park, part of the Dodge Dealers Grand Prix. "It felt great," said Neville, the 1998 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year. "It was a lot of fun. Our Huffaker/Qvale chassis has come a long way, and we’re ready for Mid-Ohio." Neville qualified the car in third place, at a time of 53.111 seconds, 103.70 mph around the picturesque 1.53-mile Lime Rock circuit. Simo qualified in the pole position, then led early until passed by Neville on the 52nd of 66 laps. "I got a good run on Brian, and got under him in Turn One. It was a little tight; I got two wheels in the grass, but we made it through." With six laps remaining, Neville bobbled slightly, and Simo got back around for the 1.349-second win. "This was a great confidence booster for Chris," said team principal Bruce Qvale, "and really shows that the Rookie of the Year honor was no fluke. And from a team perspective, considering all the crashed cars from Long Beach that Huffaker/Qvale had to repair, we’re right back where we need to be. The repairs put us behind a bit, but I think we’re back on track now. "As for the other car, it is such a pleasure to have a driver of the caliber of Dorsey. It’s unfortunate that the car this weekend was less than adequate for him, but we hope to have that remedied by next week. Dorsey was a large help in pinpointing some development problems on the #47 car, in yet another new front suspension design. We’re going back to the design we came up with on the #84 car for Dorsey this coming weekend." The second Huffaker-engineered car of Schroeder was renumbered The Coffee Critic #47 this weekend in tribute to Bob Hubbard, a St. Louis area racer and mechanic who is a long-time friend of other Huffaker/Qvale principal Joe Huffaker, as well as of Schroeder, noted racing photographer Mark Weber, and many members of the racing community. Huffaker also brought in Schroeder’s long-time car chief, Mike Seymour, to help with the car at Lime Rock. Seymour and Huffaker also go way back, having worked together some 10 years ago on Huffaker Engineering’s record setting ‘dual class win’ at the Sebring 12 hour event in 1989. Next up is the Sports Car Extravaganza at Mid-Ohio, June 4-6. The BFGoodrich Trans-Am race is scheduled to take the green flag at 12:00 noon EDT on Sunday, June 6.