Stuntman Legend: John Hateley

John Hateley was a winning AMA TT racer and wildly successful Hollywood stuntman. While he always loved racing and won numerous titles as a dirt tracker in the AMA, he is most known for his stuntwork in movies such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, RoboCop 2, Speed, Escape from L.A., Pearl Harbor, Minority Report, The Italian Job, Crank, and Iron Man 2.

Hateley was born in 1952, and grew up in Los Angeles.

When he was three, he was cast in Bob Hope’s The Seven Little Foys, and was funny enough to launch his career as a child actor in shows like Dennis the Menace, The Virginian, and Bonanza.

By the early 60s, Hateley’s career as a child actor was waning, and Hateley turned his focus towards racing motorcycles. His father founded the Triumph of Burbank in Los Angeles in 1962, which sponsored such legends as Eddie Mulder, allowing him to start riding at an early age. By the age of 9, he was competing on the Acton TT track. At 14, he won the 1966 AMA District 37 100 cc TT Championship.

When he was 15, Hateley’s father forged a birth certificate for him so that he could start competing professionally. In 1970, he was the West Coast Amateur Dirt Track and TT Champion. In 1971, he was the AMA Pro Rookie of the Year after finishing in second at the Ascot Half-Mile and entered into the Daytona 200.

In 1972, he did played a grandma doing a wheelie on a motorcycle in a popular commercial, and launched his career as a stuntman. He did stunts for movies between races, making money where it could be made so he could keep racing.

In 1975, he started riding for the factory Triumph team. The next year, he would become the first person to win points in both AMA National Motocross and the Grand National dirt track series.

While on the circuit, he met Gene Hartline, who would become a lifelong friend. Together, they would begin their transition from racing into Hollywood stuntwork.

In 1982, Hateley retired from racing and focused on being a motorcycle stuntman. He said that the movie industry was a perfect fit for him, and his work was appreciated and in demand.

While on the set for Eye of the Tiger in 1986, he met Candace Hartley, an AMA District 37 Champion who had been hired to do some stuntwork herself in the movie. They immediately connected and married shortly after filming for the movie ended.

Hateley’s life changed after marrying Hartman and having children. While he never gave up stuntwork or the occasional race, he did become more careful and controlled in what stunts he decided to do, and how he did them. Arguably, he became a better and more prestigious stuntman for it as his work became more precision-oriented instead of just being that guy who would do whatever stunt the director asked him to do.

Hateley is still a successful and in-demand stuntman, and continues to do heart-stopping work in Hollywood blockbusters. He also still races, and is known to join the grid in the Los Angeles’ fair flat track races. Despite going up against riders half his age, he rides as if he never missed a beat.