Nicky And Story Time
"I had to tell bedtime stories every
night and Nicky was the worst,"
Earl said. "I had to tell him…
'coming off the last corner at the
Sacramento Mile, Wayne Rainey
leading Doug Chandler, King Kenny
Roberts, Eddie Lawson, and Nicky
Hayden.' At the end, King Kenny
would nip Nicky, and I had to tell
the whole story again until Nicky
won. I might tell it with him getting
third, but I had to keep telling it
until he won the photo finish."
Rose Hayden Also Raced
"I was a motorcycle nut and Rose
loved it too," Earl recalled. "She raced
five years and the only time she lost
was the last one she rode in. In that
race, she wrecked and was on the
track and we all took movies then,
Super 8 or something, and I had the
ambulance guy unload her and load
her back up so I could film it. And I
had a race in the 175 class so I asked
the ambulance guy, 'Can you just give
me five minutes, and I can go with
her? Just wait until my feature (race) is
over.' I did that kind of stuff and didn't
even think about it."
The Man Behind Them All
EARL!
Leaving Roger Behind
"I remember one time we went to
Panama (City) and we were only there
for… well, I know at Spring Break I got
left twice," Roger Hayden said. "Once
at the restaurant and once at the hotel.
I was a young kid. By the time I figured
out what was going on, they'd come
back to get me. I guess I didn't talk
enough so they didn't notice I was
gone. I don't see how Tommy (Hayden)
didn't get left behind. He was always
the first one in the car so maybe I was
always out causing trouble. We always
had so many kids, and we always
brought friends. Maybe they had too
many to keep up with."
A
s well-known as his sons were
in motorcycle racing paddocks
worldwide, their father Earl Hayden
had his own fans. And they were
plentiful.
Earl Hayden passed away in December of
2021 at the age of 74 after a long battle with
cancer. He was the patriarch of the racing
Hayden family and he was always there –
whether that be at races in fancy faraway places
with Nicky, dusty American flat tracks with all
three, the Daytona 200s, the Laguna Secas…
Earl was always there and he was someone
you sought out at the racetrack to learn from
his words of wisdom. His stories were plentiful.
Some were funny, others were serious, but they
were always entertaining.
We've opted to grab a few quotes from a
Cycle News interview with Earl that took place at
an AMA Superbike race in New Orleans in 2013.
Photos by brian J. nelson
and the hayden ColleCtion
Roger and Nicky gave Earl Hayden a champagne shower after all three Hayden
boys finished on the podium in the Springfield TT in 2002.
