Now the owner of both a NASCAR and Formula One team, Gene Haas finds himself in the unique position of dealing with a pair of marquee sanctioning bodies that operates in two fundamentally different but equally successful ways. Haas addressed the differences between NASCAR and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile on Tuesday morning at his shop during a press event in which he also announced the hiring of Frenchman Romain Grosjean as his primary driver for the 2016 season. In short, the 62-year-old says the FIA is a lot more democratic in how it functions than NASCAR. "NASCAR is more like a dictatorship," Haas said. "They basically say, 'This is what we’re going to do,' and while they listen to your input, they ultimately make all the decisions. In Formula One, they have these strategy sessions where anyone can throw out any idea you want and then they vote on it. "That's fundamentally different than NASCAR." And while NASCAR has endured its fair share of debate and infighting over the costs of participation and rules packages from year to year, Haas said it doesn't even come close to the amount of drama generated in Formula One. Even as he announced Grosjean to a worldwide media contingent, several teams, including Red Bull Racing, are threatening a boycott and the approval rating of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is at an all-time low. In other words, it’s business as usual, according to Haas. "There's a lot of drama," he said. "Let me tell you, last year, they thought three teams were going to drop out, but the reality is that only Caterham dropped out. So there's always this thing where two or three teams say they are going to drop out but they always seem to show up the next year. "They always seem to be racing." Haas also believes F1 is more transparent than NASCAR due to the amount of public conversation generated in the paddock. "They have these strategy meetings and they throw out all these outrageous things in those meetings, and the media immediately picks them up as fact," Haas said. "These are just ideas people tossed out there. Whether it will or won't make it to the next level is very remote. "But there's certainly a lot of drama in Formula One. I think there's more drama in Formula One than there is in NASCAR. But still, it's Formula One. It's the ultimate motorsport."

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