Cameron Hayley is a mostly typical 15-year-old male.
He studies hard, is active in high school sports and he spends much of his free time on the computer – competing in auto racing simulation games.
But Hayley is different from his friends in that when he’s not racing on the computer, he’s actually strapped into a stock car, running wheel-to-wheel with drivers twice his age, winning races and setting records.
The Canadian youngster is part of the burgeoning youth movement in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.
Young drivers began to command attention early in 2011 when Dylan Kwasniewski, who was 15 when he made his series debut, began knocking on the door of victory.
The Las Vegas teen won the series Sunoco Rookie of the Year title with two races remaining in the season. Along the way, Kwasniewski – who turned 16 in May – became the youngest pole sitter and race winner in the series history.
And for a brief time, he was the youngest-ever driver in the series, racing as teammate to Greg Pursley, who won the 2011 series championship for Gene Price Motorsports.
“Dylan had a great season,” said Jeff Jefferson, his crew chief. “He had to miss the first race at Phoenix because he wasn’t eligible at that point to race on the big ovals. Had he not missed that first race, he’d be sitting second in the points in his rookie year.”
Kwasniewski won his first pole at Colorado, where he went on to win the race, and then took his second checker flag the following weekend at Montana.
But he wasn’t the only young driver in the spotlight at Montana. Hayley finished second there, in his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. At that point, he was just 23 days past his 15th birthday, and too young – in Montana anyway – to even drive himself to the race track.
At Spokane he started the race next to Kwasniewski on the front row, but had mechanical problems and was unable to capitalize on his initial performance.
Hayley then finished third at Roseville, after leading 14 laps in a race won by Eric Holmes, who will be his teammate next season at Bill McAnally Motorsports.“Two top threes out of three starts left me totally surprised,” said Hayley.
He said much of his success comes from his attitude.
“I think part of being successful in oval track racing is having confidence in yourself, the car and the team,” he said. “A lot of drivers go into races with the big guys figuring they just want to race with them and see what happens.
“My attitude is that I want to race them hard and be competitive,” he said. “I tell myself ‘I can do this’.”
His attitude gets praise from Rob Dixon, his crew chief on the No. 24 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota BMR entry.
“I’ve never seen anybody with such raw, natural talent,” said Dixon. “We tested him at Roseville and he got into the car and he was fast right away.
“He’s also a smart racer,” said the crew chief. “He’s always thinking ahead.”
His mature attitude has served him well during his brief career.
In addition to his impressive performance in the K&N Pro Series West, Hayley also won the 2011 Dakota Dunes Late Model Series championship at the Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, Canada and finished the season second in points in the late model series at Montana Raceway Park at Kalispell. And he was Rookie of the Year at both tracks.
Hayley’s been racing half his life, having started in karts when he was seven years old.
“But I was racing garden tractors around home before that,” he said.
“It’s always been cars,” said his father, Darrell. “Every since he was a baby, his life has centered on cars.”
The youngster moved into Baby Grands when he turned 12 and began racing late models as soon as he was old enough.
“There’s a huge difference between the late models and a K&N car,” he said. “The late model is a lot lighter and easier to drive. The K&N car just handles and feels a lot different.”
“He’s a shoe for sure,” said Ryan Wells, who won the Kalispell championship in the final race of the season, besting Hayley by just 10 points. “The team unloads ready to race. Cameron’s a very aggressive driver, but he’s real clean and I enjoy racing against him.
“I watched him in the Baby Grands and he won every race I saw him run,” said Wells. “I knew he was going to be tough competition.
“He’s a great guy to race against,” said the Montana champion. “We put on some pretty good shows for the fans.
“He shows great potential to go on and do some pretty impressive things,” Wells said. “And he’s young enough that he has a lot of time to get better.”
Cameron Hayley's resume includes competing in a Legends race car and Baby Grand race car. Hayley Racing Photos
Dixon said he has to remind himself his driver is only 15 years old.
“Sometimes I have to remind him of that, too,” the crew chief said, “Because he puts a lot of pressure on himself.
“Cameron was fastest in practice at Spokane in both sessions, and then he missed the pole by something like a tenth of a second and he was really bummed about it,” Dixon said. “I had to tell him that he’s still very young.”
How much better does Dixon think his driver can get?
“I think that next season we could see Cameron on the pole and maybe win a race or two, and I can see him and Dylan battling for the championship.”
Kwasniewski agrees.
“It took me a while to get used to the K&N cars,” he said, “but Cameron got in them and was fast right away. You can’t do something like that without having a lot of talent.”
Kwasniewski said he was pleased…in a way…that someone came along and broke his youngest-ever record, because it means the series is attracting good, young drivers.
“There are a lot of really good veterans in the series,” he explained, “I think very highly of guys like Greg (Pursley) and Eric (Holmes), but it is nice to have someone else in the series that I can relate to.”
Kwasniewski said Hayley will put pressure on him to do better next season.
“I’ve got a few records for poles and wins this year and I intend to work hard to keep them,” Kwasniewski said. “Having Cameron trying to break those records is just more incentive to be sure he doesn’t.”
| Drivers Under 21 Entered at PIR | ||
|---|---|---|
| DRIVER | BIRTHDAY | AGE |
| Cameron Hayley | 7/21/1996 | 15 |
| Chase Elliott | 11/28/1995 | 15 |
| Dylan Presnell | 5/22/1995 | 16 |
| Dylan Kwasniewski | 5/31/1995 | 16 |
| Dylan Lupton | 12/7/1993 | 17 |
| Ryan Blaney | 12/31/1993 | 17 |
| Jessica Brunelli | 1/17/1993 | 18 |
| Alex Bowman | 4/25/1993 | 18 |
| Daniel Suarez | 1/7/1992 | 19 |
| Chad Boat | 4/30/1992 | 19 |
| Travis Milburn | 5/13/1992 | 19 |
| Ben Kennedy | 12/26/1991 | 19 |
The two will finish up the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. They are two of 12 drivers in the field that are under 21.
As the season’s top rookie, Kwasniewski has his sights set on the 2012 championship.
“I made a few mistakes this year that I won’t make again,” he said. “I let a couple of wins slip away.”
Like every young driver, Hayley has dreams of working his way up NASCAR’s ladder to race in its premier Sprint Cup Series.
Kwasniewski has the same plan, but says it is important for him and Hayley to move slowly.
“Sure I’d like to move up,” he said. “If I can win in this series and it feels right, I’d do it. But if I’m not ready it would be a mistake.”
If the two young drivers stay the course, they could be every sponsor’s dream: young, good looking, smart, articulate and able to lay waste to the competition.
Hayley spends as much time as he can running racing simulation games on his computer.
“Most of the tracks we race on are not available on the computer, so it’s more for entertainment than making myself a better driver,” he said.
“But there is a simulation for Phoenix International Raceway,” he said. “And I’ve spent some time on that one, going lap after lap and working with the test and tune feature.”
Because of his age, distance from tracks and school commitments, the young driver hasn’t spent much time working on a racecar to develop the knowledge of how all the parts work in concert.
“It’s one area I really want to know more about,” he said. “My school work is strong in engineering and science. I figure if I can’t make a career as a driver, my back-up plan is to be involved in racing as an engineer.”
Hayley’s racing success comes while he is still active in sports and maintaining a straight-A average during his second year of high school.
“I have to study hard,” he said. “My dad says that if I don’t keep my grades up, I can’t go racing.”
During race weekends, Hayely’s mother does a live feed from the track to keep his fans at home updated.
“Some of my classmates in high school watch it and talk about on Monday mornings,” Hayley said. “Being from Canada, there isn’t a lot of racing around where I live. At school, when I show my friends a picture of my car, they ask if I’m going to put spinner hubcaps on it.”
Cameron Hayley had two podium finishes in his first three starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Getty Images for NASCAR