Haas, whose NASCAR star driver Kevin Harvick claimed his first victory of the season at Phoenix on Sunday, told Motorsport.com that he’d extended invitations to US-based team chiefs – including Penske, who famously claimed an F1 win in 1976 with John Watson in Austria.

Haas said of Penske: “He’s always wished me well in my Formula 1 venture because he’s done it, a long, long time ago.

“We’ve invited him to F1 races, we’ve invited Rick Hendrick – and just about everybody who wants to go to one.

“These guys, being the racers they are, I think they’d be very interested in it. It’s a sport that has a whole different twist to [American racing].

“I’d love to get Penske and Hendrick out to a Formula 1 race. I think that would be great.”

Penske “anxious” to see how Haas goes

Speaking at the Grand Prix of St Petersburg – the opening round of the IndyCar Series that his team won with ex-F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya – Penske confirmed Haas’s offer to attend a Grand Prix this year.

“I talked to Gene, he’s invited to me to come,” said Penske. “I said ‘look, I don’t know if I can even get a pit pass there’ and he said ‘I’ll get you one’.

“I’m anxious to see how they do. I don’t know how, with the economics, and you hear the kind of investment – $300million to go to F1, I guess it’s the ticket you have to have.

“I guess we’re the last American team to win a Formula 1 race,” added Penske. “It’s a shame we didn’t stay in longer but it was impossible to be in F1, Can-Am, Trans-Am – we just couldn’t do it.

“I was flying back and forth all the time. Business drove us to the US.”

Gene Haas interview by Lee Spencer