A charity ride to raise funds for the Nicky Hayden Memorial Foundation will be held June 9. The ride will hit spots such as Hayden’s memorial statue as well as his final resting place. It will end at Lure Seafood and Grille, where more than 200 special edition bottles of Four Roses bourbon bearing Hayden’s image will be sold.
Darin Tapp, a longtime friend of the Hayden family, said the first charity ride in honor of Hayden was held in 2018, bringing out roughly 800 participants. Tapp said the charity ride is being held this year on Nicky Hayden Day to honor Hayden’s philanthropic legacy.
“We don’t charge the participants to ride,” he said. “Any donations we get go toward the foundation.”
Tapp called the last ride held in Hayden’s honor a “really neat” experience that brought everyone who participated a lot of joy, including Hayden’s family.
“Earl and my dad used to race together, and it was really nice to have everyone there,” Tapp said.
While eating together, Tapp and Lure Operating Partner Ben Skiadas struck up a conversation about Hayden after Tapp complimented a painting of Hayden hung on a wall of the restaurant.
Skiadas, who had been planning to celebrate Nicky Hayden Day with a fundraiser for the Hayden Foundation for about a year, said he and Tapp decided to tie the two events together.
“We’re throwing it all together to celebrate the legacy of Nicky and honor his family,” Skiadas said.
The ride will start at 6:09 p.m. at Hayden’s memorial in front of the Owensboro Convention Center. Those participating can ride motorcycles, or any motorized bike that is legal to be driven on roadways.
The riders will go down 4th Street and turn onto the bypass, continuing out to KY 56. They will stop at Hayden’s final resting place before turning back and ending the ride at Lure. Tapp said the entire ride should last less than an hour.
At Lure, Skiadas and his team will tap a commemorative Four Roses single barrel that will produce 212 bottles of bourbon. Artist Bobby Edge painted a portrait of Hayden that will be on each of the bottles, along with his racing number and autograph.
The bottles will be sold for $250 each, and all of the profits will go toward the Hayden Foundation. Tables can be reserved for that night, and a portion of Lure’s sales will go toward the foundation as well.
“If you reserve a table that night, you have access to a bottle,” Skiadas said. “Our goal is $40,000.”
Skiadas said this is the first of a series Lure is doing to support the Nicky Hayden Foundation. The Four Roses bourbon barrel will go to Mile Wide Brewing, and the company will be aging a beer in that barrel for the next year for Lure.
Tapp said the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office will be escorting the riders during the event.
“I’m hoping for a big turnout this year,” he said. “We had a big weekend planned for the Nicky Hayden Foundation [in 2018] and a lot of it got rained out. But the highlight for me was that charity ride on Sunday morning.”
