Gene Haas

Lore & Background

Haas graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance. He originally majored in engineering but switched to business after Lockheed nearly went bankrupt. After graduation, he kept working as a machinist and CNC programmer and in 1978 hired two people to work with him in his small machine shop named Pro-turn Engineering. In 1980, Haas noticed that it took one of his employees a long time to manually position an indexer.

He built his own indexer with a stepper motor drive. In March 1983, he displayed his indexer at WESTEC. After seeing the positive reaction, he formed Haas Automation to mass-produce them. His first commercial product, the HBI-5C (Haas Brothers Indexer), sold well because it was programmable and inexpensive.

In 1986, Haas and a partner were awarded a US patent for their invention. In 1988, Haas started production on a fully enclosed CNC machine priced well below the competition. By 1996, Haas had outgrown its facilities in Chatsworth, California, and moved to Oxnard, California in March 1997 into a 420,000 sq ft facility. By 2005, the factory had been expanded to 1,000,000 sq ft.

Haas Automation is now the largest machine tool manufacturer in the United States. Sales for 2014 reached a record, reportedly exceeding $1 billion worldwide. In 2002, Haas formed a 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 Winston Cup Series as a single-car team.

The first entry 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. 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 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 career-average finish of just under 27th place. Late in 2008, Haas announced he would join forces with driver Tony Stewart; Stewart would drive for the team and in return would be given a 50% stake in the company. Stewart led the points for much of 2009, winning four times, ending up sixth in points.

Reader's Guide

Gene Haas is the founder of Haas Automation, the largest machine tool manufacturer in the United States. He also founded multiple NASCAR teams and the Haas F1 Team. He graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance. He was awarded a US patent for his indexer in 1986. He served 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony conspiracy to commit tax evasion.