Couple of Speedsters Prepare for Riverside
She likes to get her hands dirty cleaning carburetors, propagating African violets and making stuffed toys.
He likes to lie in bed daydreaming about such things as perpetual motion machines and digital measuring devices.
So why did their hearts race like turbocharged engines when they met at a party in Holtville?
Simple. They’re driven by fast cars.
Paul Haas and his wife, Margie Smith-Haas, are a Del Mar-based driving team that will be competing April 26 in the Times Grand Prix of Endurance at Riverside.
Haas, 51, and Smith-Haas, 36, will be driving a car engineered by their company, Innovon. The car, a 2.0 liter four-cylinder Porsche, generates more than 350 horsepower.
The couple has competed in races around the world, including Italy, England, France and Australia. Sometimes they drive as a team, sometimes as individuals competing against each other. In 1984 and 1985, she was the only woman in the 24 Hours of LeMans. Engine problems forced her out of the races.
Both have an active interest in design.
Smith-Haas is the founder of a company called Toys for Adults, which makes replicas of sports cars in the form of stuffed toys. The toys are distributed world-wide.
Haas is the principal designer of the new car they will drive at Riverside and in six ensuing races this year.
In a series of detailed drawings accurate to 1/16th of an inch, he sculpted the cockpit to the physical specifications of both drivers. It helps that husband and wife are the same height, 5-feet 8-inches, so that the positions of the steering wheel and driver’s seat “fit” both.
“I’m more of a thinker than a builder,” said Haas, who at age 7 tried to make a perpetual motion machine by mating a model airplane propeller with the innards of an alarm clock.
“He’s always drawing something,” Smith-Haas said. “He never gets bored. When we travel by plane, he sits and draws things the whole flight.
“We’re definitely opposites. I’m more energetic, always doing stuff. But we could tell from the time we met, at a race in Holtville in 1977, that we were both real competitive. We clicked right away.”
Smith-Haas prides herself on remaining feminine while being a competitive driver with a fondness for turning wrenches.
Early in her racing career, she was in Las Vegas. To save money, she did some repairs in her motel room, taking apart the twin carburetors used in her car.
It was a four-hour job to clean the carburetors, and she had more than 300 parts scattered on the carpet when friends knocked on the door and reminded her they would be going to dinner in an hour.
“I had my hair rolled up in a towel to keep it from getting dirty while I cleaned the floor idles, butterflies and air correction tubes,” she said. “An hour later, I had scrubbed the engine solvent off my hands, applied makeup and slipped into my velvet pantsuit and was ready for a big night out.
“People may wonder if I’m some dolly in a race car or a girl who wants to look like a million bucks. . . . Well, I’ve always been very conscious of my appearance. People might think of drivers as being masculine and tough, like football players, but I love being feminine and wearing fashionable clothing.”
She is both aggressive and knowledgeable on a race track.
Driving in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1984, she noticed a problem when the throttle stuck to the floor in turns. She had to brake with both feet or stop and restart the ignition to slow the car as needed. She was so tense, she sweated through her thick driver’s suit.
“When I pulled into the pits to change drivers, I told the crew about the problem,” she said. “But they didn’t accept my explanation. The next driver came in after one lap, white as a sheet, and demanded they fix the throttle on the spot.”
Racing is the focus, but not the only vital interest, of the couple.
Margie and Paul have combined their talents in other areas. He did some of the blueprints for the design of their contemporary home in Del Mar, and she selected some of the furnishings and filled the house with plants grown in her greenhouse atrium.
They also share a home computer, Paul doing automotive design, Margie writing press releases.
She’s loved shiny cars since her childhood in Lincoln, Neb. A high school boyfriend used to take her to watch drag races in nearby Eagle.
Her emotional attachment to cars is illustrated by several incidents. The first car she bought, she had to return to the dealer because it started smoking when she drove it back to her sorority house. She went back and scolded the dealer, demanding that he repair the car immediately.
She was just as excited about her next car, a Porsche that cost $5,300 and required her to work two jobs to make the payments. The day she bought it, she surprised several friends who were sunbathing by plunging, fully-clothed, into the pool at the apartment complex where she lived.
Paul’s need for fast cars is a bit less emotional.
He didn’t really get the urge to indulge in speedy and expensive autos until he had enjoyed some success as an inventor, patenting six digital measuring devices used in industry.
But one day, he surprised a business associate by suggesting they buy a Porsche and use it as a company car. He prevailed after his friend stipulated a maximum purchase price of $6,000.
“I’ve always liked to drive fast,” Haas said. “I used to get a lot of speeding tickets, but the number has gone way down since I got into racing.”
The couple plans to start a family within a few years, and they share some concern over the risks of racing.
“It’s something we’ve talked about quite a lot,” she said. “Our racing philosophy is similar in that we enjoy the sport and enjoy competition, but if there is something that will get us in trouble, we don’t do it.
“We love each other very much, and that’s a reason we build our own cars, to ensure our safety as much as we can. Once I flew across the country to drive in a car prepared by another team, but after I tested it, I decided not to compete because I didn’t believe it was a safe car.”
Her husband said they are both conservative on a race track.
“Conservative doesn’t necessarily mean slower,” he said. “We drive within our limits. We try to keep the car on the track.”
Haas is outwardly calmer than his wife, but said he likes to get his blood racing through downhill skiing and mountain climbing as well as racing sports cars.
“I don’t feel fear when I’m driving,” he said. “I’m always planning the next move and my various options at a given point on the course. Emotion doesn’t come into it during a race.
“Later, thinking back on what happened, I may feel a little scary and shaky. But during a race, you have to control your emotions.”
The care they take on a track is matched or exceeded in everyday driving.
Smith-Haas often speaks to car clubs and high school career classes, preaching defensive driving.
“I feel safer on a race track than I do driving to work everyday,” she said. “On the street, you are mixing with people listening to the radio, fighting with each other and generally not paying attention to driving.
“I’ve been involved in three accidents on city streets within six blocks of my home, so you can see why I trust no one on the streets. I drive defensively and urge everyone I meet to do the same thing.”
