THEY’RE DRIVEN BY SPEED : Husband and Wife Team Prepare for Riverside Endurance Race

She likes to get her hands dirty cleaning carburetors, growing African violets and making stuffed toys.

He likes to lie in bed thinking in “visual analogues”--that is, daydreaming--about such things as perpetual motion machines and digital measuring devices.

So why on earth did their hearts race like turbocharged engines when they met at a party in Holtville in Imperial County?

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 Sunday in The Times Grand Prix of Endurance at Riverside.

Haas, 51, and his wife, 36, will be driving a Porsche engineered by their company, Innovon. The couple has competed in races all over the world. Sometimes they drive as a team, sometimes as individuals, competing against one another. In 1984 and 1985, she was the only woman in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Engine problems forced her out of both races.

Both have active interests 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, which are distributed world-wide.

Haas is the principal designer of the new car they will drive at Riverside and six ensuing races this year.

In a series of detailed drawings accurate to 1/16th of an inch, he designed the cockpit to the physical specifications of both drivers. It helps that husband and wife are the same height, 5-8, so that the position of the steering wheel and driver’s seat fits both of them.

“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, to save money, she did some repairs in her Las Vegas motel room, taking apart the twin carburetors used in her car.

It was a four-hour job and she had more than 300 parts scattered on the carpet when friends knocked, reminding her that they would be going to dinner in an hour.

“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,” she said.

“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 that 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. It was such a tense experience, she sweated right 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 this husband-wife team.

Margie and Paul have combined their talents in areas other than racing. He did some of the blueprints for the design of their contemporary home in Del Mar, while 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 has loved shiny cars since her girlhood in Lincoln, Neb. A high school boyfriend used to take her to watch drag races.

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 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 that they buy a Porsche and use it as a company car. He prevailed after his friend stipulated a maximum purchase price, $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 posed by racing.

“It’s something we’ve talked about quite a lot,” Margie 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 drivers.

“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 more calm than his wife, but said he likes to get his blood racing through downhill skiing and mountain climbing, as well as racing.

“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 face.

“Later, thinking back on what happened, I may feel a little scary and shaky. But during a race, you have to control your emotions.”