Rennie Scaysbrook | August 25, 2018
On His Terms
Roger Hayden is hanging up the helmet at the end of this season, marking the end of a 20-year professional career. We caught up with him at Sonoma for a trip down memory lane.
Roger Hayden is a content man. A national champion and a man who has raced some of the best of his generation in AMA Superbike, MotoGP and WorldSBK, the 35-year-old youngest of the three Hayden brothers has decided now is the time to put a full stop on his racing career, a decision that also marks last time—for now—we will see the Hayden name up in lights across the racetracks of the U.S.
“It’s definitely a big deal for me at first. I don’t know if I saw it as that big a deal, but when you see all the headlines like, ‘End of an Era’ and ‘The Last Hayden’—it’s a big name in our series. People love the name and the family and people can relate,” Roger says. “I’m 35 now. I want to have kids. My wife, she’s 35, too. If you follow me on social media I’m constantly with Tommy’s kids, my sister’s kids. I just love being around kids. I’m pretty healthy, so now is probably the right time.”
Photography by Brian J. Nelson
Hayden has been through a lot on the past 18 months. The death of legendary brother Nicky in a road cycling accident in May, 2017, gave him pause for thought on the frailty of life and a series of crashes, one particularly head-rocking one in race one in Virginia earlier this season, planted the seed in his mind that now might be a good time to do something else.
“After I had that crash in Virginia and got a concussion, I started thinking how many of those I’ve had. A long time ago I never thought about that, but I went through that and was like, ‘whoa! I’ve had a lot of them.’
“This year I’ve crashed a lot not even pushing. Sometimes, just happy with where I’m at in the race, I crash. I’m like, ‘what the…?’ I don’t like taking the risks that I used to like to take on the track. That used to be my strong suit. I didn’t care how I got back to the truck after the race, crash truck, ambulance, whatever. Now it’s like, I’ll give a spot.”
Twenty years as a professional motorcycle racer is a life only very few get to live, and Hayden is in an even more exclusive club as three of his family members were all bonafide stars of the sport. Roger is acutely aware of not just the success he’s had but also the timing of it, coming through the ranks when there was enough money to be made where—if you were smart enough to recognize it—the ability to create a future that didn’t rely on a nine-five job at the end of it.
“I lived my childhood dream. I had really great people around me that helped lead me to what to do with my money that I made, and actually listened, thank God. It was hard when I was younger to listen to, ‘You don’t want to buy that. You should invest it.’ Invest it? I want a new truck! I don’t want to invest it. Today I’m glad I did because I’m in a position where things are okay.
“The racing has changed a lot from when I started as a pro to now. There’s a lot less rides. When I first turned pro, there was no such thing as ‘buying a ride.’ Now if you’re a kid, the second question they usually ask is how much money you got? That was nonexistent when I started.
“I tell the kids I ride with at home sometimes, it used to take an hour and a half to get out of Laguna Seca back in the day. Now you don’t even hit the brakes. So, things have definitely changed a lot. I know everybody’s working hard to improve it, but there’s only so much we can do. We need the fans to really get behind us and really rally. MotoAmerica is doing all they can, but they can’t make teams show up.”
Roger doesn’t want to vanish from the race paddock with plans to still be involved in one capacity or another. One of which could be helping the next generation of kids coming through.
“I want to stick around, because I don’t want the Hayden name to just disappear. Okay, we’re known on the track, but I want still in the sport, still giving back. I’d for sure like to help a young kid. I feel like I could bring a lot to the table. I’ve been there and done a lot, and if I haven’t, I have a couple older brothers, so I’ve seen it.
“I just always want to stay in the sport and keep it growing and see the next wave. I want to see the series back to where it used to be and I want to turn on MotoGP and WorldSBK and see an American at the front.”
Hayden has three rounds left in his professional career, one that will culminate in his final race close to home in Kentucky at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on September 21-23.
“Barber is probably my favorite track, worldwide,” Hayden smiles. “It’s weird with Barber because I got hurt really bad there twice, but I’ve won the most races there, so I guess really your favorite track is where you do best at.
“I really would like to squeeze one more win out. The competition is tough. I know nobody is going to give it to me because it’s my last race. But I feel a weight off my shoulders. That’s why we decided to announce the retirement when we did (at Utah Motorsports Campus), so people in California could come and see. The last races, I don’t want people to say, ‘If I had known it was going to be your last race, I would have come to Barber, I would have come to New Jersey.’ People have been so good to me and so good to my family, so supportive, they deserve it. Hopefully they see me for years to come.”
Roger’s Two Favorite Races
Springfield 2002
When asked what his favorite race was, Roger was resolute in his response.
“For sure, the Springfield TT in 2002. Nicky won, Tommy got second, I got third, in a Grand National. We were the first three brothers to ever stand on a professional racing podium together. We grew up flat tracking. My parents were there, and it was like my dad’s dream for all of us to be on the podium. He saw two brothers on the podium, getting there. Tommy, Nicky, then me. So that’s the biggest.”
Pittsburgh 2017
“Then last year when I won Pittsburgh, because when we were there for the test is when my brother Tommy called me and told me about Nicky’s accident and how bad it was. So, going back to that place, it was just not a good feeling. I was there for two days. Just a really yucky feeling.
“Friday I struggled. I barely even made the Superpole. On Saturday, I got on the podium and on Sunday I just won it. I think I was probably riding to the best that I’ve ever rode. It was the first race since Nicky passed away and we won it. I got to dedicate the race to him. Some people might not like this, but I took the champagne bottle home, took it to his grave site, and poured a little bit out on there. It was cool for me. I left the bottle there, but somebody picked it up.”
Life Without Nicky
“Definitely things are starting to calm down a little bit,” Roger says of Nicky’s 2017 passing. “It’s not easy, just because there’s always constant reminders. Good stuff, like the statue, and then he’s going to be in the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame, and stuff like that. It’s just an adjustment period.
“Our family is not the only family that’s ever had to go through this. It’s something we’ve never had to experience. The first year is the hardest. The first Christmas, the first birthday, the first Thanksgiving. We went on a family trip for Christmas and nothing’s the same. For one, a lot of people probably don’t know this, but Nicky was a clown. He was always pranks and tricks and you just had to always be on your toes when he was around. We miss that.
“I think we all, and especially for me, he would be mad if we’re down here walking around moaning and groaning and not enjoying life. You don’t ever move on, but he would be disappointed if we weren’t enjoying life. That’s the way I look at it. People were like, ‘why are you riding the test at Pittsburgh?’ I’m like, ‘dude, I know it’s what he would want me to do. He would want me to go do my best and not have an excuse.’
“There’s still hard days, especially for my parents. You’re not supposed to bury your child. That’s really difficult on them. But everybody is hanging in there. He just had a birthday on July 30th and we all let off some balloons and stuff together. It’s hard not to be selfish. He was supposed to get married. He didn’t get to see life after racing. He didn’t get to see me get married. Then I think, man, I had a brother for 34 years. He was only one year older. We got in trouble together, rode together, trained together, chased girls together, helped each other out. A lot of people don’t get to experience that for one year. Deep down, I’m just grateful to have a brother like I had for 34 years that always was looking out, no matter what the situation is.”
Roger’s Favorite Rides
2004 Kawasaki ZX-6R
“I just loved that bike,” Hayden says. “When they [Kawasaki] came out with the new model, I never had the same feeling. I don’t know if it was because that ’04 was my first factory bike. I was just like, ‘Oh my god, this thing…! Wait, you’ll make the foot pegs around me? You’ll make the handlebars, too?’ So, I don’t know if that had a lot to do with it, but I just loved the way it rode. I guess I started winning races on it, so maybe that’s got something to do with it. That was probably my favorite bike.
2018 Suzuki GSX-R1000
“It’s a tie between that 2004 Kawasaki and this year’s or last year’s superbike. Finally, I had the best superbike on the grid last year and this year. It’s a tossup between those two. But probably the Suzuki just because I like the power.”
“Tony is a great teammate”
“I tell people all the time when they ask about Tony [Elias], I always say last year we were battling for the championship—this was early and in the points, we were sixth. We were at the Pittsburgh test, and I didn’t ride the first day. We just found out about Nicky’s accident. But I wanted to learn the track because we were going to race there.
“It would be hard to learn the track. You’d just be a lot further off if you didn’t. But, of course, it was impossible to focus when I was out here. But he was waiting on me telling me, ‘Get behind me, follow me,’ all day. Just trying to help me. ‘Just follow me, focus on me. You don’t have to focus about anything else.’ I couldn’t really believe it. He was battling for the championship. Pittsburgh is at the end of the year, and he’s trying to help me learn the track and get up to speed. To him, it wasn’t about racing. It was about somebody he liked. So, I gained a lot of respect for him that day.
“It’s funny, when we sign autographs together, all the time people come up to him and thank him for winning that MotoGP race when Nicky got knocked down [Portugal, 2006]. So, it was kind of like, he actually helped my brother win the world championship and now we’re teammates. It’s cool that people bring that up and remember it.”
The MotoGP Career That Never Was
Roger rode a WorldSBK season for Pedercini Kawasaki in 2010, and a wildcard for LCR Honda at Laguna Seca that same year, but there’s a fork-in-the-road moment that happened three years prior at Salt Lake City in 2007.
“I had an offer in ’07 with Kawasaki in MotoGP,” says Hayden who did a wildcard for Kawasaki in MotoGP that year at Laguna Seca. “Really, it was like sitting down, like me and you now, somebody walks in here and says, “Hey, Kawasaki needs a rider for MotoGP. Are you ready?
“I was getting ready for practice at Salt Lake City, and I was to leave at that moment. I was leading 600 points. Me and my team, we’d been so close to winning the championship. The team manager at the time, Mike Preston, took me for a ride in the car. He’s like, “Are you going to go do it?” I was just like, “No, I want to win this championship. Just being kind of young, I’ll take the next chance. It never came again.”
Does Roger regret that choice?
“I don’t think so,” he says. “I don’t think I was ready. Sometimes I do, because you don’t know. The next year I broke my back and stuff here in the U.S. so I don’t know where I would have been. Sometimes it’s hard to look back and not regret it, but at the same time I’m not sure if I was ready. It’s a tough life. I’ve seen that first-hand. I only had about five minutes to think about it [the decision not to go to MotoGP]. Obviously, I guess, if you really want to go, you don’t need five minutes. I wasn’t even going home. I was getting straight to the airport. So sometimes I regret it, but who knows?”CN