What Was Nicky Hayden's Net Worth?
Nicky Hayden was an American professional motorcycle racer who had a net worth of $18 million at the time of his death in 2017. Nicky Hayden is perhaps most famous for winning the MotoGP World Championship in 2006.
Early Life
Nicholas Patrick Hayden was born on July 30, 1981, in Owensboro, Kentucky. Nicknamed "The Kentucky Kid," Hayden raced in the CMRA at a young age, often beginning races from the back of the starting grid while a family or crew member held his bike upright because he could not touch the ground. Later, at age 17, he was racing factory Honda RC45 superbikes while still in high school. Nicky became one of a long line of American road racers to come from the American dirt-track scene.
Career
In 1999, Nicky won the AMA Supersport championship on board a privateer Honda. That same year, he won his first Grand National Championship race (Hagerstown Half Mile) and took Rookie of the Year honors. He was also declared the AMA's Athlete of the Year. In 2000, Hayden won the Springfield Short Track. In 2002, despite racing in just a handful of dirt-track events, he was able to win four races: Springfield Short Track (twice), Springfield TT, and Peoria TT. He won the AMA title and was approached by the Repsol Honda team to race for them in MotoGP in 2003. Nicky had mixed results his first two years with Repsol Honda before rallying to secure his first Grand Prix win at Laguna Seca in 2005. He finished third in the rankings at the end of the season. His best racing came in 2006 when Nicky won the MotoGP world title breaking Valentino Rossi's five-year streak. He stayed with Honda for two more years without a win before moving to Ducati in 2009. He had five subpar seasons at Ducati, his highest championship finish being seventh place in 2010.
It was announced on October 17, 2013, that Hayden had signed with the Aspar Racing Team for the 2014 season. In 2016, he moved to the Superbike World Championship with the Ten Kate Racing Honda team. He won in Malaysia and placed fifth in his first season with them. Nicky continued racing for the Ten Kate Racing team in 2017 under their new name, the Red Bull Honda team.
Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images
Accolades & Honors
Hayden was named an FIM Legend in 2015, prior to the Valencian Grand Prix. Posthumously, the AMA Horizon Award was renamed the Nicky Hayden AMA Horizon Award in his honor in 2017. In 2018, Hayden's number 69 was spray painted on turn 18 at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas and renamed "Hayden Hill." The Nicky Hayden Memorial Sculpture was unveiled in 2018 to honor the late Owensboro native. That same year, Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson declared June 9th (6/9) as Nicky Hayden Day. In 2018, the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame made an exception to the five-year retirement rule to vote for and enshrine Nicky Hayden.
Personal Life
Nicky became engaged to Jackie Marin in 2016. Nicky had two brothers, Tommy and Roger Lee, who are also professional motorcycle racers. Nicky's racing number, 69, was the same one used by his father, Earl, who used to joke that it could still be read while upside down in the dirt.
Tragedy
Tragically, Nicky Hayden died on May 22, 2017, at the age of 35, after being injured in a bicycle crash in Italy. Nicky was training on a bicycle when he was struck by a car. He was taken to a local hospital with chest and head injuries, which ultimately proved to be fatal.
