Haas was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany, into a family of Dutch Jewish descent. His father fled Germany in the 1930s, and the family emigrated to the United States in March 1938, settling in Chicago. The young Haas sold gearbox parts from his parents' home and used the proceeds to fund a personal racing career beginning in 1952. He drove Ferraris, Porsches, MGs, and Jaguars in sports car competition, winning numerous races before retiring from driving in the early 1960s to concentrate on team ownership and the motorsport supply business.
In 1960, he founded Carl A. Haas Auto Imports in Lincolnshire, Illinois. In 1967, he secured the exclusive American importership for Lola Cars, a relationship that gave him enormous commercial leverage in the North American open-wheel scene and helped establish Lola as a dominant chassis supplier in US racing for decades.
Through the 1970s, Haas entered cars in Formula 5000, the Can-Am Series, and the Super Vee series. His Can-Am driver roster reads like a who's-who of international road racing talent from the era: Masten Gregory, Peter Revson, Jackie Stewart, Brian Redman, Alan Jones, Patrick Tambay, Jacky Ickx, and David Hobbs all drove for him at various points. His Super Vee driver Eddie Miller won the series championship.
In 1985, Haas ventured into Formula One with the Haas Lola team, using a chassis constructed by FORCE. The team competed for one season without lasting results and was dissolved thereafter. He also held a co-ownership stake in a NASCAR Winston Cup team alongside Travis Carter, and another with Michael Kranefuss.
The venture that defined Haas's legacy was formed in 1983 when he joined actor Paul Newman to create Newman/Haas Racing in the Championship Auto Racing Teams series. The partnership proved immediately successful. Mario Andretti brought the team its first CART title in 1984, and the organization went on to accumulate championships with regularity across two decades: Michael Andretti won in 1991, Nigel Mansell — the reigning Formula One world champion at the time of his CART debut — won in 1993, and Cristiano da Matta took the title in 2002.
Following the fracture of American open-wheel racing and the subsequent bankruptcy of CART, Newman/Haas transitioned to the successor Champ Car World Series, where they sustained their winning ways. Sébastien Bourdais delivered four consecutive championships for the team in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 — an unprecedented run of success in that era of American open-wheel competition.
Haas was known in the paddock for his fondness for cigars. Prohibited from smoking in the pitlane during races, he would chew an unlit cigar throughout the event. His temperament surfaced memorably at the 1999 Twin Ring Motegi round, when a practice collision between Michael Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya led Haas to throw his cigar at Montoya's car owner Chip Ganassi during a heated confrontation in the garage.
Beyond team ownership, Haas played a significant administrative role in North American motorsport. He served on CART's Board of Governors until it folded in 2003, chaired the SCCA Pro Racing Division until retiring in 2001, and served four terms as chairman of the SCCA Board — a record tenure. He also sat on the board of Road America and promoted events at the Milwaukee Mile, including CART, NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and American Speed Association races, as well as the Grand Prix of Houston.
Across all his teams and series, Haas's organizations won eleven championships over three decades.
Haas was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2007. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2025, posthumously recognizing a career that spanned every tier of North American motorsport. He died at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois on June 29, 2016.