A
s a kid growing up in Owensboro,
Kentucky, Nicky Hayden wanted to
be a dirt tracker. Road racing would
come later, but the early dreams and
the zillion laps at Sunset Downs as a
kid were all done with the hope of one day being
an AMA Grand National Champion.
On August 21, 1999, an 18-year-old Hayden won
the first AMA Grand National Flat Track of his career
with the victory coming at the Hagerstown Half Mile
in Hagerstown, Maryland. He would go on to win five
more in his career.
The list of those he beat at Hagerstown included
several of Hayden's heroes: Jay Springsteen,
Chris Carr, Larry Pegram, Steve Morehead, Terry
Poovey, and Will Davis.
By the time Hayden won his first AMA Grand
National in Maryland, he was well on his way to being
a world-class road racer. However, he would continue
to successfully dabble in flat track racing even when
road racing had moved to the top of the to-do list.
"I've never got a holeshot, and tonight I got five,"
Hayden said after that first victory. "This is the
biggest win of my life right here, and I've won some
pretty big road races. This is it right here. We've
had a lot of problems this year, just a lot of small
stuff that's been dragging us down. I've really got
to thank Tom Cummings and Davey Watts. They've
been behind me since I was like 15 years old.
They've put a lot of time and effort into me and I
just appreciate it."
A Pretty Good
Wannabe Flat Tracker
Nicky Hayden Nicky Hayden
A bleached-
haired Hayden
celebrates
his win with a
victory lap.
