IndyCar: Auction of ‘The House that Newman/Haas Racing Built’ (Update)

Last weekend’s RM Sotheby’s Newman/Haas Racing auction of 44 cars and 33 lots of memorabilia owned by the Haas family generated $6,096,800.00 in sales.

You can see how much each item sold for here, with the most expensive car, that driven by Nigel Mansell, selling for almost $1 million.

Today was a beautiful day in which to visit the Newman Haas Racing Shop in Lincolnshire,  Illinois, home to one of the most successful race teams in the CART and Champ Car eras.  Tomorrow is the “The House that Newman/Haas Racing Built” auction presented by RM| Sotheby’s.

Walking into the auction area was like walking back in time.  40 cars from almost four decades of the team’s history were arranged in the garage and an outdoor tent, setup for tomorrow’s auction.  Only ten of the cars are equipped with an engine.

AR1 spoke with Forest Casey, Manager, Content and Media Relations for RM|Sotherby’s, regarding the valuable collection of cars.  Even though Casey is not into racing, he does have an interest in pre-war Coachbuilt cars.  He was impressed at the degree of interest in purchasing the Newman Haas vintage race cars.

“I was not an expert in CART or IndyCar, but this project has been all-consuming for everyone on the Sotherby’s team.  We have been working with the team for months.”

“The interesting thing about this collection is that it basically tells the story of how the IndyCar was developed between 1984 and 2007.  You really get to see by looking at all these cars the progression and evolution of the technology.”

“We have one of the earliest carbon fiber IndyCars, all the way up to the absolute technological masterpiece in the Dallara/Honda in 2007.  So you can see the changes over the years.”

“You can see when you are onsite, the scale of this project is petty amazing.  It is the largest auction of open-wheel race cars ever.  It took our team some time to get things ready but I think we dealt with it pretty quickly.”

“The most interesting thing is that Indy racing was basically an international affair.  There are races in Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Australia.  And we have had Australian interested buyers and Brazilian interested bidders.  People from around the world are paying attention to this thing.  Even if they cannot be here onsite.”

AR1 also spoke with John Sulman, General Counsel for the auction house.  Sulman explained the process for bidding on any item before and during the live auction which starts at 1 pm Saturday, October 29th.

“There are a number of bidders already registered.  We have space for over 100 on site.  You could see an item and leave an absentee bid with us.  Online, you can bid live as the auction is going, telephone as well and then people here onsite.”

As I walked around, I ran into Greg, who manages Carl Haas Automotive Imports, Inc.  He assured me that Bernie Haas, Carl’s widow, was doing well and still involved with the business.

AR1 asked what prompted the auction at this time.

Greg answered, “This is just an evolution that had to happen.  It is just time.  They will hopefully go to people who can really enjoy them, display them.”

“It is an end of an era.”

As we were talking, a few of the former crew members were walking around admiring the pristine race cars.   Greg mentioned that quite a few of the old crew members would be meeting up later this afternoon.

Founded in 1983, Carl Haas and Paul Newman decided to join forces and create a team that would have entries in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Series, Champ Car and the IndyCar Series.  The powerhouse team would have 108 wins, 109 poles and eight championships before Haas decided to stop racing in 2011 due to economic conditions.

After the teams first year, Mario Andretti won them their first championship in 1984.  Mario’s son Michael won the second championship in 1991.  Nigel Mansell, a Formula 1 Champion, won their third championship in 1993, during the Brit’s rookie season.  Cristiano da Matta, a Brazilian driver, won the championship in 2002.  Sebastien Bourdais, a French driver, won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007 in the Champ Car Series.

Haas was a businessman who owned Carl A Haas Auto Imports, and was involved in racing parts distribution, notably for Hewland gearboxes.  In 1967, the German-born Haas also became the exclusive American importer for Lola Cars, which helped the company gain national prominence in the racing world.  He also had a teams in other racing disciplines over the years, the Can-Am Series, Formula 5000, Super Vee Series, NASCAR series and a short term Formula One team.

Paul Newman is best known as the handsome, blue-eyed actor, starting in over 60 films in a career spanning five decades.  The American was also a semi-professional race driver who won several nationals championships in the Sports Car Club of America road racing.  In 1988, Newman founded the SeriousFun Children’s Network which has a global family of summer camps and programs for children with a serious illness.  He was also the co-founder of Newman’s Own, a food company from which he donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.

Paul Newman passed away on September 26, 2008, after a bout with lung cancer.

From 2007 to 2010, Mike Lanigan became a partner in the team and the name changed to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.  After the 2011 season, Carl Haas announced the team would not continue to run in the IndyCar Series in 2012.  Lanigan became part-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing the next year.

Carl Haas passed away on June 29, 2016.

You still have time to get in on the bidding tomorrow.  To whomever purchases any of these beautiful race cars, may you display them proudly.

Lucille Dust reporting