One of ten siblings from Langley Mill, near the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire boundary, Haslam started racing in 1972 on a 750cc Norton Commando. At Cadwell Park he finished seventh and eighth in wet and slippery conditions. He raced at handful of meetings in 1972 and 1973. Following the death of his elder brother Phil in a racing accident at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, in July 1974, he pulled out of the sport for the rest of that season. In 1984 another brother, Terry, was killed racing a sidecar outfit at Assen, the Netherlands. Despite those misfortunes, Haslam kept on racing, with his final competitive outing on a Ducati 998 at the Race of the Year at Mallory Park in October 2004.

Haslam was runner-up in the 750 British championship in 1975, ’76 and ’77 and second in the British Formula One series in 1978. Between 1979 and ’84 he won four British titles, the 1979 British TT Formula One, the 1981 MCN British Streetbike – when he won seven out of eight rounds – the 1982 British TT Formula One and the 1984 ITV World of Sport Superbike series. He has also won two World titles – the TT Formula One crown in 1979 and the TT Formula Three championship in 1980. Haslam won the gruelling Macau GP six times – a record. He was also runner-up in the 1982 TT Formula One World series. He is a world speed record holder, after his efforts on the 500 Elf on a private, banked circuit in France in 1986, when he claimed the Flying Kilometre, the Standing Start Mile and Standing Start 10 Kilometre records

Initially Haslam raced on British short circuits, at first under the sponsorship of Halifax car dealer Mal Carter and then with Honda Britain. In the 1976 season he had 16 wins. In 1978 he rode 125, 250, 500, 1000cc, Superbike and F1 machinery and after adding a 350 to his stable the following year he became the first rider to win five different races in a day at Oulton Park and repeated the feat at Carnaby later the same season. Haslam has raced in many Endurance events, with his best result being a second in the 1979 Suzuka 8 Hours race in Japan.

Haslam raced in the Macau Grand Prix six times at the Guia circuit and won a record-breaking six times. His first victory at the race in 1981 marked the first time a four-stroke had ever won there. His record of 6 wins was equalled by Michael Rutter at the 2005 meeting, and it’s just broken at the 2011 one.

Haslam debuted at the 1978 TT races with a best place of fourth in the Formula Two race, later making his mark in 1981, when he was named winner of the Formula 1 race, only for the organisers to give the win the following day to Graeme Crosby. Haslam was back the following year to claim an undisputed victory.

Haslam was voted MCN Man of the Year in 1981. After retiring from competition, Haslam turned to running a racing school at Donington Park where he helped launch the careers of two top British riders, James Haydon and the late Karl Harris. Haslam is a qualified private pilot, and he flies a Renegade Spirit biplane (with flat-twin BMW engine).

Haslam made his Grand Prix debut at the 1977 500cc British Grand Prix at Silverstone on a 500 Suzuki, crashing out of the race. In 1982 Haslam raced in three more GPs on the experimental four-stroke Honda NR500. He finished in 12th at the Dutch TT at Assen in June, 11th the following weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and then 15th at Silverstone in August. At the end of the season Haslam took the new two-stroke Honda NS500 to Malaysia and won the non-world championship Kuala Lumpur Grand Prix.

In 1983 he was back for a full season on a factory Honda as teammate with American Freddie Spencer. He raced in the 500 class from then until the end of the 1990 season, spending three years developing the experimental Elf Honda race bike with its single-sided swinging arm front and rear suspension.

Haslam was a member of the British team in the then-annual Transatlantic Match Races between Britain and the USA. Haslam was at his best in the 1983, ending the three-day meeting as overall top points-scorer. In the opening round at Oulton Park on the Good Friday, Haslam was beaten to the finish line by Randy Mamola in the first of two, 11 lap races. Haslam, on the Honda NS500, equalled the lap record as he strove to beat the American. In race two Mamola again came out on top, with both riders this time sharing the fastest lap, which was one tenth of a second off the record. At that point, Britain led 79 points to 69. At Snetterton two days later Haslam notched-up victories in the rain, chased home each time by Kenny Roberts. Britain’s lead had grown to 28 points, 161 to 133. In the dry at Brands Hatch the following day Haslam again won both team races to lead Britain to a 245 to 198 victory. Haslam had scored 70 points of his team’s total, 15 more than Roger Marshall and 30 better than the next best, Barry Sheene. The Langley Mill racer was the highest British points-scorer again in 1984, on a standard road-going Honda VFR750 in the series in 1986, on which he took two-thirds at Donington Park.

In eight years in the premier class, Haslam had 61 top ten finishes, including nine on the podium. His best result in 1985, his third and final year with Honda, was when he was second in the Dutch TT at Assen. Haslam was beaten to the line by Randy Mamola, but was nearly 23 seconds in front of third-placed finisher Wayne Gardner, who set the fastest lap of the race. He was third in eight other races, including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1984 to Randy Mamola and Eddie Lawson. In his final season on the Italian Cagiva alongside Randy Mamola and Alex Barros. In 1987 when he ended the season fourth behind champion Wayne Gardner, runner-up Randy Mamola and third placed Eddie Lawson. Haslam was fastest in practice just once, at the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp in 1984. These results put Haslam as Britain’s second best Grand Prix competitor behind Barry Sheene.

After racing during 1990 in motorcycle Grands Prix with Cagiva, Haslam was back full-time in the UK in 1991 with Norton. He finished second in the British Superbike Championship, and stayed with Norton the following season. In 1993 he managed to score two points in the 500cc British Grand Prix in which took part as a wild card, with a 14th-place finish, surviving an incident-packed race. In the same race, Haslam’s pupil, James Haydon, made his debut on the international scene by finishing in the points at 11th place. British Grand Prix fans witnessed an impressive performance when he took a self-tuned production Yamaha into 12th place in the 250 support race at the British Grand Prix at Donington Park in 1994. In 1995 Haslam contested the first Triumph Speed Triple series, winning the Oulton Park round of the championship. When Haslam’s son Leon Haslam switched from motocross to road racing in 1997, the elder Haslam concentrated his efforts on helping the youngster’s career. He competed in the British 125 championship to give real practical assistance to Leon out on the track, and also took fifth place at Donington Park in 1998. Haslam rode the 125 again the following year, but pressure from the organisers made him stop after just a couple of rounds and restrict his coaching to the pits. In 2000, Haslam raced a Honda Fireblade in the British Superstock series, marking his 28th year of competitive racing, with a best result of 6th at Donington Park. The same year he and Leon made history by becoming the first British father and son, as well as the oldest and youngest riders, to race in the same Grand Prix when he competed on the Sabre Racing bike in the 500 class and Leon raced the factory Italjet in the 125 event at Le Mans, France.

In July 2020 Haslam announced his race training school of 24 years based at Donington Park would close later in the year due to difficulties encountered with Corona Virus restrictions.