(From the March/April 2016 issue of Road & Track)
"The secret parts," Gene Haas laughs, "are all in here." He's referring to a piece of titanium bar stock that he's just randomly selected from a large cart holding dozens of similar items. In that moment I am reminded of Michelangelo, who reportedly said, "Vidi l'angelo nel marmoe scolpii fino a liberarlo" (I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free). Haas, too, is a sculptor. The company he started eight years after leaving school, Haas Automation, is America's foremost manufacturer of CNC machine tools. There are several of them surrounding us at the moment, cutting and grinding that plain bar stock into jewellike, complex-looking parts. When photographer Jamey Price turns his lens toward one of these miniature sculptures, we are told politely but firmly that no pictures "like that" are going to leave the building.
There's a reason for the secrecy. Everything we see is going into a Formula 1 car or a wind-tunnel model.
A decade and a half ago, Haas decided to go racing in NASCAR. He wanted a new challenge, and he wanted to promote Haas Automation. In 2009, Tony Stewart became his partner and primary driver for what is now known as Stewart-Haas Racing. Race wins and the championship followed in relatively short order. Now Haas is looking for another challenge, and what could be a bigger undertaking than F1? Oddly enough, the last U.S. team to run in F1 was also named Haas; however, there's no relation between Carl Haas, the partner in that venture, and the man with whom we're speaking today.
Stewart-Haas is famous for its methodical, detailed approach to racing. This new Haas F1 facility, built next to Stewart-Haas in Kannapolis, North Carolina, clearly carries on the tradition. It's bright white everywhere. You could eat off the floors or perform brain surgery in the conference rooms. Team members, dressed in black, move purposefully. There's no idle chatter. Everybody involved knows the magnitude of this effort.
Gene Haas isn't the first person to make the jump from Daytona to Monaco; Roger Penske did it 40 years ago and was also the last American team principal to win an F1 race. Haas is, however, the first to try it in the megabuck modern era. He's also arguably the best candidate out of current NASCAR owners to take the shot. Haas isn't just a machine-tool builder. The man understands quite a bit about sculpting people, and teams, until the angel appears out of the stone. It took him only seven years to assemble the team that won the NASCAR championship. His employees speak about his work ethic, his determination, his unwavering focus on success and measurable results. "Gene never stops," says his business partner, former Red Bull Racing technical director Guenther Steiner. "He never stops thinking."
Haas is legendary for his intelligent but flexible approach to racing. It was the decision to bring Stewart on board in 2009 that made the NASCAR championship possible, and that happened because "Smoke" was given an equity stake in the operation. It's hard to imagine most team principals being willing to make an owner out of a driver, but Haas is a businessman who realizes the potential of a smaller stake in a much more valuable enterprise. According to Forbes, the value of the team has more than doubled since Haas CNC Racing became Stewart-Haas Racing, and it is now number three among all Sprint Cup teams. For the F1 program, Haas has chosen to hire Romain Grosjean as lead driver, with Esteban Gutiérrez in the second seat. "In NASCAR, we had every piece but the driver," Haas says. "With Formula 1, we won't immediately be at that point. If we gave our first car to, say, Fernando Alonso, we really wouldn't be doing him justice. But we're pleased Grosjean came on board. . . . I didn't think he was going to take the job!"
Across the country, in Silicon Valley, they talk about "pivoting" like it's something they made up. Let me tell you: Gene Haas can pivot. First example: the Haas F1 building itself. It was nearly complete well before the team entry was accepted. The reasoning was simple. At the time Haas decided to go ahead with a plan for F1, the NASCAR team was in the process of a large-scale expansion of its facilities. The cost of expanding the expansion, so to speak, was much lower than the cost of waiting until later and doing an entirely separate shell for Formula 1. So they built the whole thing. And what if the team application hadn't gone through? Haas seems mystified by the question. "Well, we'd certainly end up using the space," he notes, nodding at the already-overflowing Stewart-Haas side. And there was an added benefit: The combined facility was large enough to put a really nice replica of a NASCAR pit lane out back.
Second example: the fact that the Haas F1 building is mostly empty. The initial plan was for the team to be completely self-sufficient, in typical Formula 1 constructor fashion. So there's room for everything from assembly to the computer farm required for computational fluid dynamics analysis. At the same time, Haas made sure his Windshear rolling-road wind-tunnel facility in Concord, North Carolina, could be adapted to the 60 percent models mandated by F1. By the time the team's application had been accepted, however, the rules had been changed to allow significantly more flexibility in the way F1 cars are designed and built. So Haas entered into a "technical partnership" with Ferrari that allowed it to share certain engineering and design resources. They also cut a deal to run 60 percent models in Ferrari's wind tunnel, an arrangement that has raised suspicions among other top teams that Haas might "lend" some time back to Ferrari. "Nonsense," Haas's response to that. "The FIA has observed everything we've done. There isn't going to be any problem."
Haas also contracted with Dallara to build the carbon-fiber tub that serves as the heart of each chassis. With an eye for a bargain, the team acquired the Marussia headquarters in the United Kingdom, thus picking up computing resources.
So the cars are built in Italy and loaded with Ferrari engines, while the team trains and prepares in the U.K. That's a hell of a pivot from the made-in-North Carolina strategy. For Haas, who is always looking for a way to do something better, faster, or cheaper, it's business as usual. "The question we always ask is, How can we not spend money?" he says. "Each team in Formula 1 is a constructor. And for a lot of them, there's pride associated with that. They want to make everything themselves. But 50 percent of these cars can be sourced from elsewhere." This approach to spending is impressive, but it's also necessary; Haas and Steiner put their budget in the $60-million to $150-million range, small potatoes in a sport where the top four teams each spent in excess of $400 million last year.
In December, Steiner raised eyebrows by declaring that the Haas F1 team would not finish last in the 2016 championship, a statement he has no trouble doubling down on when pressed. "The advantage of Gene," he laughs, "is that . . . if somebody tells him some BS, he sees through it. And that is why we're not going to be last!"
"There are always these billionaires that want to come into F1," Haas adds, "and they have all the money in the world, but they don't have our experience running a team, making things work. They flounder. . . . Running a team is like running a race. You look, you see the problem, and you adapt." Yet both Haas and Steiner are careful to state that they don't expect to match the zero-to-championship-in-nine-years mark set in NASCAR. "It's a technical challenge," Haas says, "and we don't even know the extent of the challenge yet." Asked how long he is willing to stay in the sport without a championship or even a win, Haas is unequivocal. "Ten years, easy. . . . Funding is not a problem." It's a billion-dollar commitment, but there is no uncertainty in the man's voice. As it turns out, the reason for his confidence is just as grounded as everything else about the Haas F1 effort. The global market for CNC machines is expanding rapidly. Haas has a big piece of the U.S. market but very little overseas. By fielding a Formula 1 team, the company gets a marketing presence that "you can't buy," according to Haas. And the tie-in with Ferrari? Let's just say it doesn't hurt and that interest in Haas CNC machines is already on the rise. Long term, the team will more than pay for itself through increased overseas market share.
It's a far cry from the flimsy business plans and outrageous expectations that have been part and parcel of most entries into F1 over the past few decades. But what if this solid, workman-like approach yields unexpected rewards? What if the stars align and Haas F1 actually wins a race next year? What would they do? Who would they send up to get the constructors' trophy? Gene dismisses the question out of hand. "That's pure fantasy. . . . Anyway, I probably won't even be at the race. It would be up to Guenther." Eyes gleaming, Guenther Steiner appears to consider the prospect a bit more seriously.
"Who would accept the trophy? Oh, don't worry about that," he laughs. "We'd find somebody."
Jack Baruth is a writer and competitor who has earned podiums in more than fifteen different classes and sanctions of automotive and cycling competition, in both amateur and professional capacities, as well as an enthusiastic hobbyist musician and audiophile who owns hundreds of musical instruments and audio systems. His work has appeared in Bicycling, Cycle World, Road & Track, WIRED, Wheels Weekly, EVO Malaysia, Esquire, and many other publications. His original design for a guitar, the Melody Burner, has been played by Billy Gibbons, Sheryl Crow, and others.
