Birthdate: February 26, 1930 (67) Residence: Lake Forest, Ill.
Wife: Bernadette Wedding Date: October 1964
USA Today has called Carl Haas "One of the most powerful men in the history of auto racing" and the record books back up that claim with 11 championships in the last two decades of auto racing. Presently, Haas continues managing his numerous racing interests that include a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Indy car team, NASCAR Winston Cup stock car team, World-wide Distributor of Swift race cars and North American Distributor of Hewland competition gearboxes, board of directors functions for the Road America race track and management of the Milwaukee Mile.
Currently Haas is developing yet another major racing enterprise - an all-new, American-made chassis line for the highly competitive PPG CART World Series. Together with California's Swift Engineering Inc., Haas' team will debut an exclusive Swift chassis in 1997. This will be followed by customer versions of the design in 1998 with Haas as exclusive distributor. Haas is also the distributor of Swift chassis for smaller racing formulas.
Haas ended his long-time involvement as the exclusive North American importer and distributor of Lola racing cars in 1996. During Haas' involvement, he established, built and sustained Lola as an industry leader for nearly 30 years. Due to Haas, Lola Cars Ltd. (England) grew from a small manufacturer of speciality racing cars to become the industry leader, delivering over 3,000 specialized racing chassis world-wide since 1967. The majority of this total had been sold by Haas who consistently showcased Lola's various products via his highly successful racing teams. Likewise, Hewland transaxles have become the standard for every pure-bred competitive class... from Indianapolis and Formula One... to Trans-Am, Formula Atlantic and numerous amateur-oriented racing competitions.
Prior to focusing his business skills as a team owner in the motorsport industry, Haas won numerous races as a driver between the years of 1952 and the early 60's. During those years, he raced exotic cars such as Ferraris, Porsches, MGs and Jaguars. Since he gave up racing and focused on team ownership, Haas' teams have won 11 championships since 1974.
Prior to building one of the most successful teams in CART history, Haas and Paul Newman competed against each other in the Can-Am series and ironically each began looking toward Indy car racing in 1982. The duo joined forces to start Newman-Haas Racing in 1983 with Mario Andretti as the driver. The rest is a competitive history of track records, race wins and championships.
Haas' business expertise has also served him well in racing competition. Since 1974, Haas-owned and managed teams have been among the most successful in all of auto racing, winning 11 major championships in Indy car, Can-Am, Formula 5000, and Super Vee competition.
In addition to Haas' success on track, he is one of the most respected executives in racing. He is a director of CART, sanctioning organization of the PPG CART World Series; chairman of the Pro Racing Division of the SCCA and a director of Road America, the world-class racing facility at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Recently Haas retired after a record four terms as chairman of the board of directors of the SCCA, the nation's largest motorsports membership body. He is the only person to ever simultaneously hold top positions on two major racing governing bodies.
Haas is also a voting member of ACCUS, the U.S. arm of FISA, racing's international governing body In addition, a Haas-controlled entity operates The Milwaukee Mile, the nation's oldest major racing facility which annually hosts both Indy car and NASCAR weekends among other racing activities. His long-term agreement at Milwaukee puts him in the elite company of only two racing team owners who also operate major tracks.
The consistent on-track success of Haas' racing teams has attracted a long list of superstar drivers to his stable. Among the notables who have campaigned for Haas through the years are current Indy car drivers Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi, World Champions Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, Jackie Stewart and Alan Jones, five-time LeMans winner Jacky Ickx, Brian Redman, Patrick Tambay Paul Tracy and David Hobbs.
Since Newman/Haas Racing began competing in CART, the team has won the PPG Cup three times-in 1984 (Mario Andretti), 1991 (Michael Andretti) and 1993 (Nigel Mansell) and has consistently been
a front-runner in the highly competitive series. In 1996, Newman/Haas Racing's two drivers finished second (Andretti) and fifth (Fittipaldi) overall and claimed a series-high five wins by a single driver (Andretti).
In 1994 Haas launched a NASCAR Winston Cup team in partnership with retired Ford racing executive Michael Kranefuss. This team, Kranefuss-Haas Racing, is based in a modern 20,000-square-foot facility in Mooresville, N.C. In 1997, the team expects to be among Winston Cup's best with driver Jeremy Mayfield at the wheel.
In the late 1960's, Haas was one of the first road racing team owners in the country to attract major corporate sponsorship backing. Since that time, his cars have enjoyed a high level of prestigious brand support, including major sponsors Kmart, *Budweiser* and Texaco/Havoline in CART and Kmart and RC Cola in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series, testimony to both his high success level and marketing savvy. Other nationally known brands currently associated with Haas-owned teams include BellSouth, Bosch, Braun, Casa Fiesta, Coinex, Donna Karan New York (DKNY), Duracell, Exide, Ford, Gillette, Goodyear, International Trucks, Kodak Premium Processing, Maxell, Oral-B, RC Cola, Right Guard and Silicon Graphics Computer Systems.
Haas' business interests include the following:
Managing partner and co-owner of *Kmart/Budweiser* the Swift-Ford/Cosworth driven by Michael Andretti and the *Kmart/Budweiser* Swift-Ford/Cosworth driven by Christian Fittipaldi in the PPG CART World Series.
Co-owner, with Michael Kranefuss, of Kranefuss/Haas Racing, which fields a Kmart/RC Cola Ford Thunderbird driven by Jeremy Mayfield in the NASCAR Winston Cup stock car series.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sports Car Club of America Pro Racing, and Director of SCCA Enterprises. The SCCA is road racing's primary "grass roots organization", which has over 50,000 members and sanctions both professional and club-level events. The Trans-Am sedan championship is the most visible of the SCCA's pro series.
Member of the Board of Directors of (CART), the sanctioning body of the PPG CART World Series, making Haas the only man to hold executive positions with two sanctioning organizations.
Worldwide Distributor of Swift race cars, North American Distributor of Hewland gearboxes,
and a variety of other key racing components. Haas provides a sophisticated parts and service operation at each event.
Race organizer at the "Milwaukee Mile," the Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway, in West Allis, Wis. Haas promotes all racing events at the historic one-mile oval, including the June 1, Miller Genuine Draft 200 CART race as well as a Busch truck race and ASA event.
Stockholder and member of the Board of Directors of Road America, the four-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis., widely regarded as the most scenic track in the United States. Road America annually hosts several major professional events, including the August 17, Texaco/Havoline 200 CART race.
Avid collector of art and exotic automobiles.
Following are the drivers that have driven for Carl Haas:
CART Michael Andretti (*1991), Christian Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti (*1984), Nigel Mansell (*1993), Paul Tracy, Teo Fabi, Alan Jones
NASCAR Jeremy Mayfield, John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Geoff Brabham
Formula One Eddie Cheever, Alan Jones, Patrick Tambay
Can-Am Mario Andretti, Jackie Stewart, David Hobbs, Tacky Ickx (*1979), Alan Jones (*1978), Patrick Tambay (*1977, * 1980), Brian Redman, Chuck Parsons, Peter Revson
F5000 Brian Redman (*1974, *1975, *1976), Derek Bell
