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ENNIS, Texas -- On Saturday, September 2, 2000, Jerry Haas sat in a crowded banquet room at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis as Car Craft magazine presented the 2000 All-Star Drag Racing Team as selected by a special Selectors Panel and the readers of Car Craft magazine, NHRA’s National DRAGSTER , and other leading motorsport publications. Haas was nominated for Pro Chassis Builder of the Year. His anticipation mounted as the MC made the announcement: "And the winner is Jerry Haas!" Haas made his way to the stage to accept his award - - the 13th time Haas has been selected to the Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team… Jerry Haas was born in the small town of Salem, Mo., about 100 miles from his current residence in Fenton, Mo. He grew up on large farm. It was on this farm that Haas honed skills that would forge an award winning career. In a self-sufficient environment, such as a farm, you learn to fend for yourself as Haas recounts, "Being raised on a farm provided a great input in my life. When you broke something you couldn't run to the store to buy a new one or get it fixed. You had to take what was available and make it work." The farm also played a role in Haas’ racing career. As he struck out on his own, his dad presented him a gift of two Black Angus calves. "I raised these calves," he remembers, "and they had calves and it turned out to be a really good thing as time went on. "I began racing a ’62 Chevy 409 and I really didn't know too much about engines at the time. I didn't understand how to drive them and I’d wind the motor too tight and every time I blew one I’d sell a cow to pay for fixing it. This worked pretty well. I probably sold five or six cows." After running out of cows, Haas became a tool and die maker for a St. Louis company, a job he held for 18 years. This position also helped him continue his drag racing career, competing in a Chevy II at the local dragstrip. What started as a weekend hobby soon took on bigger importance. It was at the race track that Haas saw a new need - - the need for expert chassis building. Said Haas, "There weren't that many tubular race cars out there and I didn't like what other builders at the time were doing. I wanted to do business with somebody like I would want them to do business with me, so I decided to build chassis. "I didn't know for sure at the time if it would work, but I took the risk. I had to make a big decision to leave the tool and die company to try something on my own. But I knew racing was what I wanted to do. You have to stick your neck out and try it. The company understood and they gave me a leave of absence for six months. If it didn't work out I could return at any time." Well, needless to say, Haas never returned to that tool and die making job. The year was 1978 and Haas received his first order for a Pro Stock Pontiac from John Hipple. Haas recalls his first three orders. "John (Hipple) order a car and then he told somebody, they told somebody, and the next thing you know I'm building two more cars - - one for Tommy Johnson and one for Rich Thomas. Hipple, Johnson and Thomas were my first three customers." Haas added a fourth car that first year - - a Chevy Camaro. This one was for Haas himself. Haas’ driving duties and chassis building enterprises have always been intertwined. Says Haas of his double duty as both a driver and chassis fabricator, "Driving helps me know more about the cars and trucks I build and what other drivers and owners are talking about... you get a better feel of the chassis sitting behind the wheel." While he was getting his new chassis building business off and running, Haas was continuing to pursue his driving career. By 1984 he had claimed two American Hot Rod Association Pro Stock championships - - the first in 1981 and the second in ’84. Between the end of the 1984 season and the 1988 season, Haas alternated between driver and chassis fabricator. During that period Haas-built, Haas-owned or Haas-driven cars served notice they would continue to set the standard for a long period to come. Haas formed another of many alliances in 1988, teaming with businessman John Hipple fielding a 1988 Camaro. The pair finalized their partnership in time for the NHRA U.S. Nationals, competing in the granddaddy of national events and four more that year. The association with Hipple continued through the 1989 and 1990 seasons. The 1990 season also found Haas forging another partnership, this time with Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. A winner as a driver, Jenkins’ engine expertise gave the needed power to propel Haas to the NHRA Pro Stock Car forefront. In 1991 and 1992 Haas campaigned as an independent. 1992 also found Haas taking on a new role - - that of teacher and mentor. During 1992 Haas prepared three young drivers — Billy Huff, John Nobile and Mark Osborne — for competition on the NHRA and IHRA circuit. Haas opened the 1993 season with another young driver, Kurt Johnson, son of multi-time Pro Stock Car champion Warren Johnson. Greg Thomas followed Kurt Johnson to the driver's seat before Haas reclaimed his ride in July of that year. Haas continued to campaign his independent Pro Stock entry through the 1995 season, when once again he returned to his fabricating shop to oversee the chassis building portion of his ever expanding race car factory. During this time span Haas was only semi-retired from active driving. He continued to keep his reflexes honed to perfection by driving a 200-mph Corvette in Competition Eliminator. With his chassis shop flourishing, Haas the unassuming craftsman and driver took on a new opportunity. In 1997 a new class, Pro Stock Truck, was emerging on the NHRA circuit. Jerry Haas and Jerry Haas Race Cars joined the groundswell of this upstart class. Haas built two Chevy S-10 trucks. Then Haas, together with fellow driver and engine builder, John Lingenfelter, staged the first of many exhibition runs for the new drag racing trucks. Haas' eyes light up as he talks about the beginning of the Pro Stock Truck class. "Chevrolet came to me in 1996 and asked me about the truck program. I asked them to let me research the program and think it over," he said. "One day I pulled into the shop and looked at the area where my employees parked and 80 percent were driving trucks. After reading the statistics of how high truck sales were at that time, I was sold. I love being part of new innovation. From there it just developed into a new class. To race for Chevrolet was a dream come true." Haas drove his Chevy S-10 at events all across the country during the ’97 exhibition season. Then the 1997 exhibition gave way to head-to-head competition and official status as a professional category in 1998. During 1998, the first full year of actual competition for trucks, Haas finished in the fifth position in the Winston Pro Stock point standings. In addition to his driving duties, he continued to be the premiere truck builder in the newly created category. 1999 saw the Pro Stock Truck category begin to mature. When the dust had settled on the ‘99 season, the veteran driver had nailed down a top ten finish — finishing at number ten. For the start of the new millennium, Haas relinquished the driving seat to a rising star in NHRA drag racing - - first to Brad Jeter, who moved up to Pro Stock shortly after the 2000 season started; now to Steven Farr who Haas feels is a driver on the way up. "This season I decided to give up my truck seat to a younger driver. It's hard on me to try to build them and then drive one in competition," said Haas. "I enjoy working with the new drivers and this will allow me to spend the necessary time with my truck customers, which is a very demanding part of my business. "We started the year with Brad Jeter. He ran two races with us, then got a chance to move up to Pro Stock. That was a great opportunity for him and I said, 'Go for it.' Steven Farr came on at Richmond. He's an upcoming guy who's got a lot of future ahead of him. I think we're in the top twenty in points and I feel we should start making a move upward. "I still do a lot of extensive testing in my truck. I still drive it a lot just to have the feel of it so I know what I'm doing. It gives me the feedback to upgrade my own truck operations and it also gives me feedback to build a better truck for my customers," added Haas. Currently, Haas-built trucks hold the NHRA Pro Stock Truck record for both elapsed time (ET) and speed. Bob Panella, Jr., the reigning Winston point champion and current leader for 2000, holds the quickest time in his Chevy S-10. He recorded an ET of 7.463 seconds at this year's national event in Richmond, Va. Also at Richmond, Randy Daniels, in another Chevy S-10, set the record for speed at 180.16 mph. Born the day after Christmas, Haas has been married for over three decades. In fact, he met his wife Elaine at the races. "I went to the race track one weekend in 1968 and I kept seeing this girl there and running into her. Well, she ended up being my wife," explained Haas.
The union with Elaine has produced two daughters - - Nicole and Michelle. "Elaine
loves racing; my two daughters love racing; it couldn't be better!" smiled the
13-time All-Star.
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