A Second Callin’

In the 1980s, Colin Edwards II was a promising motocrosser, coming up through Yamaha’s youth racing program. Before he was old enough to drive, Edwards had won at the annual Ponca City amateur motocross event, which attracted top amateur talent in the early 1980s.

But when the financial bottom dropped out of the Texas oil fields in 1984, long work weeks away from home became the rule for Edwards’ father, Colin Sr. Bike maintenance and other duties soon fell on the narrow shoulders of the 14-year-old racer. What was once a father-and-son dream became a one-man grind. He was burned out and left the sport.

Edwards reemerged two years later on pavement. After a single undefeated year of amateur road racing, he turned pro and went on to a stellar international career that endured more than 20 years and was highlighted by two Superbike world titles.

In the midst of his racing career, Edwards married and started a family, two girls and one boy. Hayes, the son, gravitated to baseball. On the Little League and Select travel baseball fields at the western edge of East Texas, his position was shortstop, and Colin’s spot was in the dugout as an assistant coach.

The younger Edwards was no stranger to two wheels. At age 3, Hayes would wake his dad with a finger poke to the forehead to ride his Yamaha PW50 at the family’s property, the land later developed into the Texas Tornado Boot Camp.

Hayes knew how to twist a throttle and reel in broken traction, but his main focus remained line drives and double plays.

“I probably only rode flat track maybe 11 times a year,” he recalled. “That was pretty much it.”

Edwards was a baseball player first, but at age 14, a decade after first picking up a bat and a ball, he had had enough.

“I was just kind of tired of relying on other kids to make it happen,” he said. “So, I decided to go my own way and count on myself.”

A friend’s invitation in the fall of 2019 to 3 Palms Action Sports Park in nearby Conroe changed everything. After that, baseball didn’t stand a chance.

Colin was ready for a change, too.
“That’s how it started,” he said. “Hayes wanted to go ride, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll ride with you and get in a workout.’ I started falling back in love with motocross.”

The younger Edwards was soon the faster Edwards.

“It’s funny,” Colin said. “I always had the Tiger Woods vision, you know, ‘Once you can kick my ass, I’ll show you to the public.’ And that’s kind of been the motto. That lasted two weeks. I was like, ‘Oh, hell, I guess we’re going racing.’”

So, earlier this year, Colin signed up Hayes and himself for a local motocross race at 3 Palms.

“Yeah, I raced that day,” Colin recalled. “I was on my old two-stroke 250. Went to another race, I rode again. Went to another race, I rode again. And then, his speed went through the roof over a very short time, and I thought, ‘Man, I need to focus on this, because somebody’s got to drive us back home.’”

Now, Colin was head coach.

“As far as the motocross side, I don’t know all the techniques,” Colin acknowledged. “I don’t know how to ‘scrub’ a jump, and I don’t know some stuff he’s got to learn himself or from other guys. But, as far as being a mental coach, I know exactly what it takes. I know exactly how you have to think. I know exactly what needs to be in your brain when you’re on the starting line to make it happen.”

Hayes appreciates his father’s approach.

“My dad is not the one to be on the side of the track whacking me with the stick, telling me to go faster,” Hayes said. “He’s just super laid back, lets me do what I want to do and doesn’t really put that much pressure on me, which I feel is good. I can just focus on going fast and getting where I want to be.”

Colin’s racing philosophy is not a product of his youth motocross career. It was developed in his early road-racing days.

“In 1993, I went from 250s to Superbikes,” he said. “Self-doubt crept in. I got some motivational tapes, and [the principle was], take the words, ‘try,’ ‘can’t,’ ‘hope’ and ‘wish’ out of your vocabulary and start committing. From that point on, confidence in the way I talked—being positive and taking out negativity—and not doubting myself turned everything around.

▲ Following in the footsteps of his famous MotoGP racer father, Colin Edwards, 14-year-old Hayes Edwards (above) aims to earn a factory racing contract.
Photo by Hannah Berglund

“My dad could tell when I was on and when I was off. He just couldn’t translate it; he didn’t know how to get me out of a funk. [As a coach,]you’ve got to get your little cues when you see them. When Hayes is down a little bit or frustrated, I just give him a, ‘Let’s keep going.’”

Hayes applies the lessons on and off the track.

“It definitely helps me,” he said. “A bunch of kids in my school, if something happens, they’re negative about it. We always try to stay positive and keep moving forward.”

Colin understands the challenges Hayes will face due to a lack of experience in his chosen discipline.

“It is actually a double-edged sword,” he said. “His disadvantage is he hasn’t been riding motocross since he was 3 years old. He doesn’t have 11 years of experience at age 14.

“He is racing against kids who have hundreds of gate drops. Hayes’ add up to about 28, and that includes 10 last week.

“What is his biggest advantage? He hasn’t been riding motocross for 11 years, you know? So, it’s good because it’s brand new to him. He is pumped. He loves to go riding.”

When a teenage Colin Edwards made the switch in 1990 from motocross to road racing, his riding skills were an advantage.

“In amateur road racing,” he said, “if somebody loses the front or the rear end steps out, a lot of younger, inexperienced guys usually have to come into the pits and change their underwear. But with the motocross background, you always have the bike; it’s always loose. The thing was always moving around.

“So, getting on a road-race bike, it definitely helped. Initially, learning the sport, you liked everything to be in line. But as speed comes, things start moving a little bit more, and just as long as you can stay comfortable with that and push through it, then it works out.”

Similarly, Hayes’ jump to motocross benefits from his flat-track skills.

“Bike control and all of that transfer over,” Colin said. “It really helps a lot. A lot of kids, at age 13 or 14, lack corner speed. Well, Hayes has been awesome at turns since day one. We just built a little rut track, and I got him dragging handlebar pretty quick.”

Hayes admits some flat-track skills work against him.

“One thing that is a disadvantage is getting [too much] traction at the rear,” he said. “When you’re flat tracking, coming out of the corners, you get to the back of the bike, and it squats the rear. I have a tendency to do that on a motocross bike, and I about loop out every time.”

Colin is grateful he can hang out with his kids.

“I don’t have to go to a 9-to-5 [job] and be away from them all the time,” he said. “I’ve worked my butt off to get where I’m at in life, so I actually can spend time with them.”

Colin isn’t targeting any major goals right now.

“Man, we’re going riding and having fun,” he said. “Most importantly, having fun. Hayes is putting in the work, I’m putting in the work behind the scenes, and we’ll roll with it, see where it goes.”

Hayes is more specific.

“Factory,” he said. “That is the goal.

“Some teenagers don’t have the [father-and-son] connection. My dad and I are pretty much always together. He’s always helping me no matter what.”

Asked about his own ambitions, Edwards reiterated his support for his son.

“The only desire I have is doing exactly what I am doing,” he said. “I am driving down the road going to a motocross race with my son. I don’t have anything on the back burner. I am full of passion right now doing what Hayes wants to do.”

And the perfect day?

“Arriving at the track safely,” he replied, “and then, pinnin’ it.”

Pete Peterson, a former editor of Dirt Rider magazine, is an AMA member from Encinitas, Calif.