Gene Francis Haas is founder, president, and sole stockholder of Haas Automation,
a CNC machine tool manufacturer. He also has a presence in motorsports, having
founded NASCAR team Haas CNC Racing, and the Haas F1 Team Formula One team.
Haas Automation Haas graduated from California State
University Northridge in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and
Finance. He originally majored in engineering but switched to business
after Lockheed nearly went bankrupt. Ironically, after graduation he was
unable to find employment in business that paid more than what he was earning
at his summer machine shop job. So, for the next few years he worked as a
machinist and CNC programmer. In 1978, he opened Pro-turn Engineering, a small
machine shop with two employees; Tony Cortez and Abel Bugarin.
In 1980, Haas noticed that it took Bugarin a long time to manually position
an indexer. Haas thought building his own indexer with a stepper motor drive
would make his shop more efficient. He built one for himself and few more for
other machine shops. In March 1983, he displayed his indexer at WESTEC. After
seeing the positive reaction of attendees, he decided to form Haas
Automation to mass-produce them. His first commercial product, the HBI-5C,
sold well because it was programmable and inexpensive. In 1986, Haas and a
partner were awarded a U.S. Patent for their invention.
In 1988 Haas started production on a fully enclosed CNC machining center
priced well below the competition. Some believed Haas copied or reverse
engineered this machine but at the time existing machines were so hard to use
that Haas used them as an example of what not to do. Over time, Haas machine
tools became extremely popular, mostly because they are simple, very
affordable, and because the in-house designed computer control is
operator-friendly. By 1996, Haas had outgrown its
facilities in Chatsworth, California and began a search that ultimately brought
it to Oxnard, California. In March 1997, the move was completed into the Oxnard
factory, a 420,000-square-foot facility. By 2005, the factory had been expanded
to 1,000,000 square feet. Haas Automation is now the largest
machine tool manufacturer in the United States. Sales for 2008 reached a record
reportedly just under $1 billion worldwide.
Auto racing = NASCAR=
In 2002, Haas formed a new NASCAR race team, Haas CNC Racing. After purchasing
the Concord, North Carolina-based Craftsman Truck Race facility from
Hendrick Motorsports, Haas CNC Racing began work on its first entry in the
Nextel Cup series as a single-car team. The first entry for the new team was
September 30, 2002 with driver Jack Sprague who finished 35th after a crash.
The team raced only three times in 2002. By 2003 the team was running full-time
with several driver changes over the season. The team won its first race in
the then-Busch Series in 2004 with driver Jason Leffler. By 2006 the team
had relocated to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Kannapolis, North Carolina
and was fielding a full-time two car team in the Cup Series. At the end of
2008, the team was still struggling with a total 6+ year average finish of just
under 27th place. Late in 2008, Haas announced that he
would join forces with NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. Stewart would drive for
the team and in return would be given a 50% stake in the company from Haas.
Stewart led the points for much of 2009, winning four times at Pocono, Daytona,
Watkins Glen, and Kansas, ending up sixth in points. Stewart had a mediocre
2010 before picking up wins at Atlanta and Fontana, while Newman won at
Phoenix. Stewart won the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship, winning 5 of the 10 Chase
races. Haas was present at the first team win
in May 2009 when Stewart won the All-Star race. Haas also joined Stewart
on the podium at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20, 2011, as
Stewart won the Ford EcoBoost 400 that day and claimed his third NASCAR Sprint
Cup Championship. The team currently runs cars in the
Sprint Cup Series for Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch.
Haas fields a Camping World Truck Series team on a limited basis for Cole Custer.
With Custer's victory at New Hampshire in September 2014, Haas joined a select
club of owners who have won as an owner in all three national touring series,
joining Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and Jack Roush. On September 30th, 2015,
Tony Stewart announced his retirement from Sprint car series racing as a
driver. His replacement is Clint Bowyer. = Formula One=
In January 2014, Haas confirmed that he had formally submitted to the FIA his
interest in entering a team in the F1 championship in 2015 or 2016, initially
named Haas Formula and Haas Racing Developments. On April 11, 2014, Haas
announced that he had been granted a license from the FIA. On May 28,
however, it was revealed that the team would delay its debut until 2016, with
Haas officially confirming the postponement on June 4. In September
2014, the team took up its current name of Haas F1 Team to better promote its
involvement in the chosen sport. In December 2014, it was further reported
that Haas purchased major assets from the bankrupted Marussia F1 team, which
was confirmed in early 2015. = Wind Shear wind tunnel=
In 2006 planning began for a commercial wind tunnel. Haas commissioned
California-based Triliad Development to oversee the project. The facility was
designed to be the most advanced automotive wind tunnel in the world. The
facility is centered around an MTS rolling road which allows a car to be
restrained in place directly on top of a massive tread mill-like machine with a
70-foot-long by 10-foot-wide by 1 mm thick stainless steel belt rotating at
speeds up to 180 miles per hour. The rolling road accurately simulates the
dynamics of a car on the race track, unlike traditional fixed-floor tunnels.
Construction of the new wind tunnel began in 2007 and was completed by
year-end. After six months of commissioning, the wind tunnel opened to
its first customer, a Formula One race team, in July 2008. Today the Wind Shear
facility counts numerous NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula One and American Le
Mans Series teams as customers. Wind Shear is owned 100% by Haas.
Philanthropic activities Haas has used his position as a
successful businessman to share with the local community. Haas Automation and
Haas were the recipient of the Roy Pinkerton Award, presented by United
Way, Ventura County Chapter. Many engineering colleges have "CNC Labs"
outfitted with machines he donated, including California Polytechnic State
University, California State University Channel Islands, and California State
University Northridge. Haas also has been a generous donor to
two-year colleges, most recently Danville Community College through the
award of a $1 million grant in April 2015 to support an Associate of Applied
Science degree program in Integrated Machining Technology. The program, which
will be housed in the Gene Haas Center for Integrated Machining in Danville,
Virginia, will build upon the college's existing 80-credit Precision Machining
Technology two-year diploma program. = The Gene Haas Foundation=
The Gene Haas Foundation has provided charitable donations since 2001
including Hospice Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, Los Angeles Mission, YMCA
Kids Camp, NAACP, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, MS Society, and others.
Criminal tax evasion On the morning of June 19, 2006, Haas
was arrested by IRS agents for investigation of filing false tax
returns, witness intimidation, and conspiracy. Four others were indicted
together with Haas, and all four of the co-indicted pled guilty.
Just before Haas' case was to go to trial, a plea agreement was reached with
Haas pleading guilty to felony conspiring to commit tax evasion. He was
sentenced to 2 years in a federal prison and ordered to pay $75 million in
restitution. Haas was incarcerated beginning January
2008 and was released on probation May 2009 after serving 16 months of his
two-year sentence. References
Gene Haas Foundation data provided by Manager, Gene Haas Foundation, 2800
Sturgis Road, Oxnard, California 93030 External links
Industry Week article on Haas Automation Official Haas Automation website
Official Haas CNC Racing website Haas' biography at Haas Automation
Gene Haas owner statistics at Racing-Reference