Gene Haas

Formula 1 employee

Vital statistics for Gene Haas
Nationality	USA
Position	Chairman
Team	Haas F1 Team

Gene Haas worked his way up the ladder the hard way - gaining a degree from university, setting up his own manufacturing business and leading the innovation to help grow the enterprise. With hard work comes reward, and for Haas that meant starting his own racing squads. More than a decade's worth of experience in NASCAR paved the way for the Haas F1 Team to enter the sport, making their debut in the 2016 season.

Biography

Haas was born in Ohio but moved early on to Los Angeles where he began working early in his life and picked up a taste for entrepreneurial endeavours. He studied for a finance degree at University, and after a few years as an employee, opted to become the boss instead. He opened Proturn Engineering which manufactured electronics.

After working and learning for several years, Haas opened a new company - Haas Automation. He invented machines, grew the company, became a trailblazer and then turned his attention to motorsports.

Sponsorship and dabbling in amateur racing himself wasn't quite enough for Haas, and in 2002 he set up his own team to enter the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Haas CNC Racing raced a handful of times in that first year but completed the full season in 2003. Growing from a one-car to a two-car outfit, Haas eventually partnered with champion Tony Stewart to form Stewart-Haas Racing.

The team started winning, qualifying for the final Chase for the title and launching some of the names still racing today. Meanwhile, Haas was looking for the next big challenge and posted a bid for the Formula One entry in 2014. Originally scheduled to debut in 2015, Haas F1 Team arrived on the grid for their first race in Australia 2016 after some positive pre-season testing.

Filed under Formula 1 employees

Date	Title
11/11/2016	Magnussen joins Haas to race alongside Grosjean

Date	Title
26/02/2017	Looking sharp

Mentions during live coverage

Date	Update
26/02/2017	Gene Haas on how heading into the second year compares to the first: "I think it has pluses and minuses. On the plus side, we're not trying to put the whole pit crew together. We don't have to worry about getting trucks and other infrastructure. We have all that in place.The negative side is that there's less time to do all these things again and there are a lot of rule changes, so you have to be prepared. On the other hand, we have stronger relationships with a lot of our suppliers, so that should make it easier. It's kind of give and take.It'll be just as challenging as it was last year, but I think with the knowledge we have, we should actually perform a little bit better this year."
20/03/2016	Gene Haas: "We stopped the race, I guess, which is another first for us!"

Date

Update

26/02/2017

Gene Haas on how heading into the second year compares to the first: "I think it has pluses and minuses. On the plus side, we're not trying to put the whole pit crew together. We don't have to worry about getting trucks and other infrastructure. We have all that in place.The negative side is that there's less time to do all these things again and there are a lot of rule changes, so you have to be prepared. On the other hand, we have stronger relationships with a lot of our suppliers, so that should make it easier. It's kind of give and take.It'll be just as challenging as it was last year, but I think with the knowledge we have, we should actually perform a little bit better this year."

20/03/2016

Gene Haas: "We stopped the race, I guess, which is another first for us!"

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