Haas Racing #66 Best Buy Chevy / Jeff Green] held a grand opening of its new facility at Kannapolis Gateway Business Park on Monday to a crowd of local leaders, race fans and Haas employees. Gene Haas, owner of Haas CNC Machinery, was on hand to cut the ribbon and open the 144,000-square-foot facility. "This was a big undertaking," Haas said. "We broke ground a year ago and here we are. It was very quick." Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer said this was a major investment in Kannapolis. Total cost for the new building is $16 million. Joe Custer, head of Haas Racing, said this new facility will be the new headquarters for two racing teams - the Best Buy Racing Team, with the #66 car, driven by Jeff Green, and the race team for the #70 Cup car [could be Johnny Sauter as driver]. That team sponsor has not been officially announced, Custer said. "We will have two (Nextel) Cup teams operating here," Custer said. On the main floor, visitors mingled among race cars, with finger food and drinks in hand. Kids ran around, their eyes excited at being up close to a real race car. Drive Jeff Green was on hand to give an interview to a racing network. Haas Racing moved from Harrisburg and is planning a state-of-the-art rolling road wind tunnel facility on Ivey Cline Road in Concord, NC. The wind tunnel will employ a belt system for the car to ride on while in the wind tunnel and will create maximum sustained winds of 180 mph.(
Kannapolis Independent Tribune)
November 21st, 2006
