39 replies to this topic

[Barry Boor]

Whilst scanning in pictures for a new set on the images website, I came across this one:



Whatever happened to this guy? And more to the point, how on earth should his surname be pronounced?

[FEV]

Nice pic Barry ! Hayje did some Renault 5 Europa Cup after his F1 tries, but he most notably raced in the USA winning IMSA GTO/GTU races on BMWs and most of all in Dan Gurney's Celicas. As for his surname's pronouciation... my guess would be like "age", but despite my flamish surname I do not speak a work of dutch

[scheivlak]

In English, try something like "high-uh". In German "Heie"....

Boy also raced some F5000 and F2 in the mid-seventies and Sportscars in the eighties. Able driver, but not indispensable in a F1 grid....

[xjohnnyjaguarx]

what i know bout him is that apparantly he lives like 10 miles from where i live
well he did a couple of years bc a friend of my dads dealt with him on professional basis r such.
and that he has -so that guy says-a grudge against arie luyendijk and how on earth he could have won two indy 500's.
and he raced a in a bfgoodrich lola t 616 mazda in some selected wspc and imsa races

[FEV]

Wasn't he part of Roger Heavens "Racing For Holland" F3 team ? I remember it fielded three dutch drivers in Euro F3 in the late 70s : Luyendijk, Lammers and a third who was angry of not having the same support and said it was the reason why his career didn't have the same issue as Arie's and Jan's... but maybe that was Michael Bleekemolen !!!

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by xjohnnyjaguarx

well he did a couple of years bc a friend of my dads dealt with him on professional basis r such.

[Rainer Nyberg]

Yes I agree, it was a nice pice from a great era of F1.....!
I always had a soft spot for the '70s, but just the motorsport side of it!
I don´t dress like ABBA or like 70s music much either...

[Frank de Jong]

Originally posted by FEV
Wasn't he part of Roger Heavens "Racing For Holland" F3 team ? I remember it fielded three dutch drivers in Euro F3 in the late 70s : Luyendijk, Lammers and a third who was angry of not having the same support and said it was the reason why his career didn't have the same issue as Arie's and Jan's... but maybe that was Michael Bleekemolen !!!

The one you are referring to is Huub Rothengatter.
But look in retrospect what they choose in 1978: Lammers (Le Mans 24h winner, still going strong), Luyendyk (twice indy 500) and Rothengatter (only Dutch F2 winner ever, sort of three seasons F1, and now the manager of Jos V.)

Even for a small country like Holland, in 1976/77/78 it was no problem to split our motorsport world in two halves:
F&$ properties, with Hezemans, Hayje (F1), Bleekemolen (F3 works Chevron) and a bunch of FF1600 and 2000 cars (Desire Wilson); against RTH (Racing Team Holland), with the trio mentioned above, and people like Rob Slotemaker, Johan Beerepoot and Hans Grimmelt.
At least it created some publicity.
About Boy; a very talented F3 driver, racing in one of the first Ralts, no wins but some impressive races. After that, John MacDonald, just out of troubles with his Brabham team of '76, created an epic secondhand March team, of which we best remain silent.
Boy moved on to the Opert F2 team, didn't deliver whereas Bleekemolen got a very short F1 career. Boy then had some races but nothing very serious, until he drove the Lola-Mazda.

[Geza Sury]

Excuse me Barry, but where this picture was taken? My suggestion is the 1977 Race of Champions. Am I right?

[Barry Boor]

Geza, absolutely correct - just turning into Druids Hairpin at Brands.

[FEV]

Thanks for the history Frank ! Yes I forgot Huub. It was indeed a great era for Holland in racing. But for some reason it seems that Holland produced a lot of younf promising drivers since the last 25 years but few made it to the very top. Cor Euser, the Coronel brothers, Michael Vergers, Peter Kox all had (and some still have!) a great talent but for some reason they didn't make it to F1... Lack of national support ($$$) ?

[Frank de Jong]

Let's add Jacky & Riccardo vd Ende, Gerrit van Kouwen and Marcel Albers (not related to Christijan!) to that list.
Although it seems that for instance in Belgium, even mediocre drivers get a lot of backing, I think most of the Dutch drivers just lack that little bit extra, which is needed to reach the top. And that "extra" is not always money or talent, perhaps it's only in the mind.
Of course, we will never know if Marcel Albers (he died in 1992) would have reached the top...

[Racer.Demon]

In Belgium they have Belga and Bastos (don't underestimate the value of ciggie money) backing the international careers of their most promising drivers - plus a healthy local scene (funded by Belga and Bastos!) of big-horsepower series (with two high-profile 24-hour events) at international tracks such as Spa and Zolder. Apart from that, Belgium has a headstart of about 40 years, with the Circuit des Ardennes (compared to the post-war Zandvoort GP) as its first major motorsport event.

The Dutch tobacco industry - the world's third largest tobacco exporter, no less - can only be granted that they (in the form of Niemeijer) backed Jan Lammers for a pitiful single season in F1. I suspect that Holland could have caught up with Belgium if we had had at least two major circuits (instead of just one, that was promptly cut in half during the mid 80s) and a healthy backing of national tobacco money. I'm sure we could then have had a motorsport scene with just as much heritage (and resulting driver talent such as Ickx and Boutsen) as the Belgian scene. As it is, we haven't and never will.

The fact is that Holland has always been too politically correct to support motorsports.

And, as Frank rightly point out, Dutch athletes in general have this peculiar ability (or defect) of the mind to push the self-destruct button at exactly the wrong moment. As far as small countries go, this is a character flaw that can't be traced back to Finns or Austrians...

[Frank de Jong]

Just one small point: one tabacco company should be mentioned positively. I feel that Marlboro did a lot for Dutch motorsport, sponsoring many national drivers and financing some of the rebuilds on the track. The only thing you can hold against them was that sponsorship stopped at the level of about half an F3 budget (for instance van Kouwen, Verstappen, Albers, the DTM BMW of Euser).
Dutch multinationals like Philips or Shell are perhaps more to blame.
PS I'm a non-smoker, don't get me wrong...

[Rainer Nyberg]

The problem with such large companies like Shell and Philips are that they are multinational rather than national. I have bought many Philips products over the years, but the last one that was made in Holland is my shaver and it was more than 10 years ago (but still working fine!).

The same applies to Sweden (Ericsson, ABB, SKF, Electrolux...)

[No27]

Dutch multinationals like Philips or Shell are perhaps more to blame

Not to mention ABN-AMRO Bank that sponsors the Brazilian GP for several years but done nothing for Dutch drivers.
B@@N Company sponsored Arrows BEFORE Jos went in again in 2000.
World-Online, now Tiscali, sponsored BAR in 2000 I believe.
Shell, half Dutch, half Brittish sponsors Ferrari, but done nothing in particulair for a Dutch driver.
Did anybody know Pirelli is statued in Amsterdam, they have done nothing as well, but are apologized.

Phillips sponsored Jos in his third F1 season when he was at Arrows. And they had some logo's on Lotus in the mid eighties I believe.

Huub Rothengatter tried to seduce them all in 1984 or 1985. He advertised in the largest newspaper with a pagewide image of a F1 car (McLaren) painted in the colours of Philips and Shell. Does anybody have these pictures?

[Mischa Bijenhof]

Last week I spoke to a collegue who is currently writing a book about Dutch racing involvement (that is drivers, mechanics, a single F3000-effort and so on) that Boy Haye is alive and doing well, but he doesn't want to talk about racing anymore.

[Racer.Demon]

Originally posted by Mischa Bijenhof
Boy Haye is alive and doing well

And doing what? (Just being curious for Richie's sake here.)

[Keir]

BOY "Hi Yah"

[Mischa Bijenhof]

I'll try and find out what exactly Boy Haye is doing these years.

[Mischa Bijenhof]

Boy Haye lives somewhere in Belgium and is running a garage. The one that doens't want to speak about racing is Netherlands other seventies GP-driver, Roelof Wunderink, who appears to be living in The Hague. I switched them, sorry.
I know a guy who is writing a book about them ( as I mentioned earlier in this thread) but he doesn't want to revael too much from it. It is going to be published in february, so we will have to wait for that.

[Mischa Bijenhof]

As the old Boy Hayje thread is closed, I thought it might be nice to add some information, since we didn't get very far last time. Following information comes from fellow TNF-er Hans van der Klis, who wrote the book “Dwars door de Tarzanbocht.” I made a rough translation on a part of his chapter on Boy Hayje, as, sadly, his work isn’t available in English yet. Excuses for my poor English,

Mischa Bijenhof


Boy Hayje was the son of Amsterdam garage owner Jopie Hayje, who himself had contested in some speedway-event in the Olympic stadium in Amsterdam in the early postwar years. In 1968 Boy took part in his first race in an Opel Kadett. He won three races en was second twice, but as there wasn’t an official championship his efforts are rarely reported. One year later Boy switched to a Ford Lotus Cortina, in which he crashed heavily at Hunserug when his wooden steeringwheel broke in two. Two merely unsuccessful years in outdated Formula Ford machinery followed, but in 1974 Boy became Dutch Formula Ford champion in a Lotus.
In the winter of 1975 Boy found the money to try a Formule 5000 at Zandvoort. According to Van der Klis, this was a McLaren , acquired from John Webb.
Boy Hayje decided to join forces with Toine Hezemans when, in 1975, he wanted to contest the European Formula 3 championship. Hezemans, a man with the ambition to start his own Formula 1 team, decided that F5000 was the way to go instead. The pair chose to enter an ex James hunt March 731. Hayje finished second at Zandvoort but crashed heavily at Thruxton at round three of the championship, when he spun of and hit a marshalls post, which was effectively the end of the car.
Luckily, Bob van der Sluis, who, together with with fellow Dutchman Fagel formed F&S properties, came to rescue. The couple acquired a Ralt RT1 Formula 3 for the 1976 season. Hayje qualified on pole for his first race, once again at Zandvoort, but was punted off by Gianfranco Brancatelli on lap 5. However, Autosport declared him ‘Star of the race’, which must have been a poor reward. Eventually, Hayje scored three pole-positions, two seconds and a third place that year.
That same year Hayje was lined up for the Dutch Grand Prix in a Penske PC 3 that was raced by John Watson the previous year. The budget was taken care of by Hezemans, who paid 78000 pounds for the car and a Cosworth engine. Cooling problems meant limited testing and predictably Hayje didn’t qualify the recalcitrant car. Officially, that is. Hezemans and Fagel did the impossible when the latter distracted the timing-official, while Hezemans quickly changed Hayjes qualifying time on the officials’ sheet.
And so Boy started his first ever Grand Prix, which came to an end when the driveshaft broke on lap 63.
In 1977, Hayje got a seat in John McDonalds RAM-team, for which 1 million dollar was paid for a campaign that was supposed to last twelve races, being all European GP’s, The South-African GP and the Race of Champions. The car appeared to be not so very new, it was in fact Vittorrio Brambilla’s old car in which the Italian had a huge crash the year before in Germany. Things got worse and worse when the car appeared to be useless. Haye soldiered on during the season and in Belgium Howden Ganley was hired as a technical director. The New Zealander noticed that the car’s floor was cracked up, but as money was tight Hayje had to do with the old one in Sweden. With his fourth DNQ as a result. Time was needed and F&S decided that Hayje would drive the car no sooner than in the Dutch Grand Prix. In the meantime Mikko Kozarowitzky and Patrick Neve were hired by McDonalds to drive another chassis, of which we know the results (or lack of).
In Holland, John McDonald made the unwise move to enter two cars for his struggling team, the second chassis being prepared for Michael Bleekemolen. That was it for financial backers F&S, who chose to buy the entire team in order to save their investments. As we know, McDonalds was arrested that weekend for fraud and that also meant the end for Hayjes F1-career.
In 1978, Hayje drove for Fred Operts Formula 2-team, but the spirit seemed to be gone. He also contested in some aurora-races, with mixed results, and the following year was spent in Formula 2 once again. The Dutchman’s career seemed to have come to an end, but in 1981 Hayje made a surprise comeback in the Renault 5 turbo-cup. He won 5 races but again faded away in the second season. After that, Hayje went to America where he drove in IMSA for Bill Karges’ BMW-team for two seasons, with Roberto Moreno as teammate. Nowadays, Boy Hayje lives in Belgium, selling 4X4 cars and watching Formula 1 on tv. He doesn’t attend races anymore and wishes to remain anonymous. He is 53 years old now.

[Richard Jenkins]

Mischa, you spell his name as Haye. Does this mean that Hayje is the wrong spelling for his name.

Nice info, btw

[No27]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins
Mischa, you spell his name as Haye. Does this mean that Hayje is the wrong spelling for his name.

My name is not Mischa but you're right: spelling Haye's name Hayje is wrong.

Good story!

[Frank de Jong]

My name is Frank but I would be most surprised if Haye is the right spelling - I've never heard of it before.
I'll stick to Boy Hayje. IIRC he was from Amsterdam and on the same address I had in mind there's still a Hayje in the telephone guide - probably his parents.

[Marcel Visbeen]

I've never heard of the spelling as 'Haye', I checked my old Zandvoort programs and it's always 'Hayje'.
If you look at this picture:

You'll see Boy put his name on his helmet and it is clearly spelled as 'Hayje'.
So ...

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by Frank de Jong
My name is Frank but I would be most surprised if Haye is the right spelling - I've never heard of it before.
I'll stick to Boy Hayje. IIRC he was from Amsterdam and on the same address I had in mind there's still a Hayje in the telephone guide - probably his parents.

Likewise his name is listed as Hayje in the Belgian address book

[Mischa Bijenhof]

Aaargh! I really should stop working at night... Of course it's Hayje, I already edited my post. Don, could you please edit the name of this thread or I will look like an idiot.

[moggie]

Hi, a question about Boy Hayje as the 4 x 4 garage owner, (as stated in the "Where are they now ?" section) : Can someone give more information where you can find it exactly ? Thanks for helpful hints, Erik

[Mischa Bijenhof]

I'm not sure about the exact location, the only thing I know is that it's in Belgium near a village called Geel.

[jorism]

Where do you need it for Erik, I could give you his complete address.

[moggie]

Hi Joris, that would be nice. It's just out of interest (as I live in the same region),... and maybe, one day, have a brief encouter, as I guess most of us are delighted to meet an (ex-) F1-driver. Best regards, Erik

[Arjan de Roos]

Hi Moggie,

A few years ago I had a brief telephone conversation with Mr. Hayje. He was, as was written in some articles when he drove top level, not so very talkative. He does follow racing a little bit, but finds it somehow a little boring....

[BRG]

Whilst we have the attention of our Dutch-speaking members, can one of them please enlighten me about the name 'Boy'? Is it a proper Dutch name, or is it an abbreviation, or a nick-name? I have often wondered! It sounds a bit strange to a Brit like me, even allowing for pop luminaries like Boy George.

[jorism]

I also had a telephone conversation with Hayje, as he told me he is not interested in racing activities nowadays. From various sources in our country I heard that Hayje has some strange activities. "Boy" is not a typical Dutch name or a abbreviation from a Dutch word, I thought it's just comes from the English word.

[Arjan de Roos]

Boy is a name given to some dutch boy's. There is no real clear explanation, but I suppose today it sounds quite macho as we explain it comes from english as you depicted Boy George. In dutch english words often sound strong and direct.

Boy is a name used for quite some time so it may also come from Bodo (German) or Boudewijn (Dutch, Flemish).

Hayje as a family name is practically only his family. Searching for his phone number I got only three hits in the dutch phonebook, his sister, his aunt and a nephew. All in the Amsterdam region.
I bet the only Hayje in Belgium sells 4x4 cars ;)

[Arjan de Roos]

Originally posted by jorism
I heard that Hayje has some strange activities.

As said Hayje was and is not so talkative. He was very silent as a driver and far from a extravagant self-promotor (often needed to make it in racing). That led to people thinking strange of him.
He was also a driver who reached F1 with the help from dutch sponsor F&S properties and the help of Toine Hezemans. This led to several people feeling bad about this 'easy' career, maybe they gave some wrong comments on Hayje.
Sponsor F&S ran into some financial trouble and bad press in the early eighties.

Hayje however has never been involved in strange activities that indeed have been proven. I myself havent heard any rumour. But in racing people tend to search for limits that have nothing to do with speed : .

[Formula Once]

Just to make sure in case anyone still wondered: no strange activities, just selling cars. And when we did have dinner with him something like a year ago, he was very talkative about his racing for once and we were able to produce quite a lenghty and interesting story about his thoughts on his career. A modest and nice man, only a (tiny) little frustrated about how things went and the business ethics in racing, but easily admitting that he blamed himself too. Anyone who watched him race, knows Boy was quick and very, very brave. But he only cared about the driving.

[Ted Walker]

Marcel. please have the good manners to put a photo credit with the picture..............or remove it.

[Gabrci]

There is a Johan G Haijje in the phonebook in London, SE20. Other occupants are Nerissa L Henderson, John A Downing, Shahraki Ali Mokhtarzadeh, Masoud Zamani Rad. There aren't many Johan G Haijjes on this world, surely?