Gene Haas: Ready to put the past behind him and move on

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   Gene Haas is back in NASCAR, and he says he's putting the past behind him and resume life as an industrial magnate – Haas Automation, one of the world's leading machine tool manufacturers – and life as a NASCAR team owner.
   Well, sort of.
   After all, new business partner Tony Stewart has been running Haas' seven-year-old stock car team quite well this season.
   In fact, Stewart won Saturday night's All-star race, his first as a NASCAR owner-driver, and Haas' first as a team owner himself.
   And Haas was here to watch it all unfold.
   Thursday Haas, just days after being released from Lompoc Federal Correctional Institute, a low-security facility just north of Los Angeles, where he served 18 months on tax charges, held a press conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway to talk about his team's new-found success under Stewart…and his last 18 months.
   "The biggest thing that first goes through your head is 'Why is this happening to me?'" Haas said of the legal hit he faced head-on in the summer of 2006.
   "I don't know. Maybe it's like getting stricken with cancer, or getting hit by a drunk driver when the light changes.
    "What you try to do is put the pieces back together as best you can, and minimize the damage.
    "I look at it as just an unfortunate event in my life. I stood up and took responsibility for what happened, and I'm moving on," Haas said. "It all happened in 2000, nine years ago, and it's time to move on. It's in the past, and I just want to get on with my life.
   "I don't have any hard feelings toward anybody.
   "If you dwell on things too long, you'll never get ahead."
   What's it really like in Lompoc?
   "It's like being in the Army," Haas said. "In basic. You've got bunk beds; your day is somewhat regulated.
   "Most of us spent our days at work; we exercised a lot. The day just gets filled up with routine. And on the weekend you have visitors.
   "The days and weeks go by slowly.
    "There's not a lot of security there. We're really on the honor system…so everybody tries to be on his best behavior – because if you don't, then things will get worse."
   

   
Gene Haas: finally out, and ready to move on with life (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)