Also a gifted motocross racer, Hateley put that experience to use on the Street Hawk set
While stunt coordinating Eye of the Tiger, an '86 action film in which Gary Busey goes fist-to-helmet with a motorcycle gang, Hartline hired a number of motorcycle-riding women, one of whom was artist and AMA District 37 Champion Candace Hartman. Hateley was doubling the lead baddie in the film, and the two instantly hit it off. They married soon after the film ended. The relationship with Candace changed John's life.
"John was a complete juvenile delinquent," Hartline said. "He was in more trouble on any given day than any 10 kids you grew up with. He was always blowing things up and doing all kinds of sh*t he wasn't supposed to, making everybody around him crazy."
As Hateley's family grew with the addition of two sons, he took a bit more care in the stunts he chose to do. "After I got married and had kids, and my brain started to work a little clearer, there was stuff I turned down," he said. "I had already used up my luck."
He learned to work with the stunt coordinators to reduce the risks by reducing speed or increasing clearances. He also learned to never give 100 percent on the first take. That way, when the director asked for more on a subsequent take, the rider could up the action with a reasonable degree of risk in a business that's never exactly safe.
To this day, Hateley is in demand when the job requires someone precise and professional. He's run camera bikes for 2009's Fast & Furious and for the L.A. Marathon. He really enjoys working with the wheelchair athletes-a mad group of adrenaline junkies who hit top speeds over 55 mph and try to draft him. "I get done with covering that 26-mile run and I feel like I've completed the Baja 1000," Hateley said.
He hasn't quite given up racing, either. Last fall, he raced a friend's Triumph in a round of Gene Romero's West Coast Flat Track at the L.A. County Fairgrounds half-mile. Hateley confided to Hartline that when he sat on the line with riders half his age, he wondered what he was doing out there. But when he pulled out for his first practice session, all his concerns melted away and he ran as fast and smooth as ever.
"He's a racer. If you want a definition of what that is, he's it," Hartline said. "He'll race you to the bathroom."
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Hateley, shown here mid-corner at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1973, knew his way around a ro
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Another from the "You want me to wear what?" file: Hateley in costume on the Batman set.
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"Space-age bullsh*t" is how Hateley's stunt partner, Gene Hartline, remembers Deathsport.