Devon Motorworks, possible Viper plant owners

Devon Motorworks, which has placed the only serious bid for the Viper and its factory, is owned by Scott Devon, whose primary skill appears to be in running companies. His private-label food firm has been both profitable and rated as a good place to work.

Product Development is run by Andy Benedict, who ran purchasing and product development at Ford; his experience includes suspension and body engineering for numerous Ford models, as well as cost management.

The race team is headed by Justin Bell, who is known for his win of the 24 Hours of LeMans in a Dodge Viper in 1997, and for his FIA GT world championship (in the GT2 class), in a Team ORECA Viper GTS-R.

The chief of design, Daniel Paulin, has done design work for Ford, MG Rover, Hyundai, Peugeot, Tata, Volvo, and other automakers.

Advisor Frederick L. Hubacker worked for a long period at Chrysler, working in finance under Lee Iacocca; he was CEO of New Venture Gear, Textron, and Chrysler subsidiary Acustar.

Automotive sources said that some other Devon employees have experience with McLaren Performance, which did a considerable amount of tuning work for the current Corvette and Viper.