VOL. 50 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 29, 2013
Earl and Nicky nervously watch
Tommy's Superbike race at Laguna in 2011.
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Speed2 live. Then Roger and
Tommy. Say I'm watching Nicky
at 7, then Supersport is on the
track at 8. Tommy at 9, Roger
Lee at 10. Then you get an hour
in there. When Roger Lee was
running World Superbike, I had
three kids in three different parts
of the world. On race day, three
kids in three different countries in
three different series. Thank God
for the Internet. I get that Nicky
stuff on eight-second delay. I get
the timing and scoring, the live
video. And Nicky calls me after
every practice, every qualifying.
Even though the teams watch
you pretty close, when it's your
kid it's a different level of what
I'm watching. I know when my
kid doesn't come around. I knew
[at Aragon] when Nicky wasn't in
that pack… I knew way before
because he might tell me something. But nobody knew because
he [Nicky] was on the outside
of the fence. They had to figure
out how to climb fences to get to
him. I could see him and he was
moving and that's what I wanted
to know."
Watching Earl Hayden at work
keeping tabs on his kids is like
watching NASA. And now you
can throw young Jake Lewis into
the mix since Earl has also taken
him under his wing.
"When they are in Europe,
most of the time it's like 3 o'clock
and 7 o'clock – when they race
at 2," Hayden explains. "Then
"I was home in front of my I watch Jake [Lewis] on that
computer," Earl explains. "I've
(From left to right) Nicky, Earl and
got two of them [computers] goTommy. Back in the day.
ing – one watching live timing
and scoring and the other one
with live video. Rose and Jenny,
my oldest daughter, they were in
Utah watching it on two things
and then Kathleen is watching
it at her place and Roger Lee…
after the crash, I'm just learning to text, but it was, 'Where
is he? What's happening?' The
announcer is saying that they
think he is moving, then he's
going to the infield hospital in
an ambulance… then there's
a text that he's going downtown to a hospital to check
internal injuries. I'm still at
home sweating it and trying to hear the announcer
