Through it all, she has continued to wear multiple hats and even has a driver-development business and a nonprofit foundation that assist and educate young racers.
“Obviously, driving is at the heart and soul of all of it. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with sponsors. I’m grateful for the speaking that I get to do, I’m grateful for running the team, working on the cars,” Haase told SPEED SPORT. “My driver-development program, my foundation, I’m grateful for all of that, but at the end of the day none of it really functions that well if I’m not racing. There is nothing like driving a sprint car, but I’m grateful for all of the things I get to do in the sport.”
Even though her race team is based in Iowa and most of her racing takes place at Knoxville Raceway, Haase has lived in Indianapolis since early 2019 and is looking to broaden her racing horizons.
“There was a strange series of events that led up to me moving to Indy. At the end of the day, I’ve told everybody since I was 11 years old that I was going to be a professional race car driver and every single one of them looked at me like I was nuts,” she explained. “Living in Des Moines and being close to Knoxville, I didn’t want people to think that was like the end all, be all for me. Not that that’s a bad thing because I was very grateful for where I was, but I wanted to pursue racing and be in a racing community.
“Honestly, I just wasn’t happy. I found myself at a point in life where I didn’t feel like I was chasing the dream I set out to chase. It all happened in a matter of a couple of weeks. I came out to Indy to scope it, flew back home and I was home for like three weeks before I packed my bags, quit my job and left all my family and friends,” she added. “I showed up in Indy like at 9 o’clock at night and the IndyCar chaplain and his family told me I could stay with them. I went straight to their house, I had never met them, didn’t even know what they looked like. I ended up staying there for a month. I bounced around a little bit until I finally got a house. I bounced around working for different teams as a mechanic, cleaning or doing odd jobs. I also started my new youth foundation right when I moved out here.
“I’m currently working out of the Indy Race Parts shop. We’ve been racing and selling parts, pretty much. My race team is still in Iowa, but I’ve been running some races this fall out of the Indy Race Parts shop,” Haase continued. “My plans are to keep doing what I’m doing and be based more out of Indy, travel and race more.”
Away from sprint car racing, Haase studied at Drake University, was a contestant on the hit television program “American Nina Warrior” and participated in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity combine.
“My junior year of college I wrote a paper on racing that got academically published and it took a year and a half to do that. At that point, I was honestly so busy and wrapped up with all of my other ventures, that it didn’t make sense for me to continue,” she noted. “I was a finance major with a concentration in investment analysis. I was part of the investment club there and I still continue to do that. I manage my own portfolio as well as a couple other people’s portfolios.”
Haase wasn’t among those selected in two visits to the NASCAR combine, but her “American Ninja Warrior” experience went much better.
“It was incredible. They say there are about 80,000 applicants and they take about 600 to be on the show. To make it a little over halfway through the course was nice and to get a story feature was great too, because not everybody gets airtime,” Haas said. “I was very grateful for the experience, but it was very difficult and the training that goes into it is unbelievable.”
Haase admits she sometimes wonders how different her life would be had she not had that chance meeting with Kasey Kahne while on vacation in Nashville.
“The irony of meeting Kasey Kahne that night is that I almost didn’t walk over to see what was going on because we were walking into a restaurant to have dinner. I almost didn’t do it five times because I’ve always been kind of shy and reserved,” she revealed. “I finally went over and I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t. If you are destined to do something in life, you’ll find it no matter what. I like to believe that if God wants you to accomplish something, nothing’s going to stop that from happening.
“I think Kasey was an important part of that plan. Not only Kasey, but my cousin and that kid in the ice cream shop. They were all pieces of the puzzle. But it’s crazy to look back and think how different life would be if Kasey hadn’t made sure I got to talk to him.”