Don Haywood, 64, the proprietor of the iconic, eponymous and independent camping and RV site that overlooks Circuit of the Americas, died Wednesday in the house that had become an island amid the sprawling racetrack complex.

Evelyn, his wife of 28 years, said: “I found him and tried to do CPR. … He had a stroke two years ago.”

She said that Emergency Medical Services later arrived but that Don died of natural causes. Evelyn was dealing with his death Thursday while fans at the track were celebrating Willie Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic.

For much of the past decade, Evelyn and Don served as hosts at Haywood’s Hill, welcoming campers from around the country, and even a few foreign visitors, to a perch outside the track that offered a great view of the stretch from turns 10 through 12. At times the hill could also provide a pretty good view of the superstage COTA would erect for major recording artists, such as Taylor Swift, who were signed to spice up the annual Formula One race.

The F1 race, along with those of MotoGP and IndyCar, were more than income generators for the Haywoods; they were also social occasions. The Haywoods would make coffee, and Don might grill hamburgers and hot dogs.

“Don loved the people. He loved talking to the people,” Evelyn said.

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People were scarce when the Haywoods moved to the 10-acre plot east of Austin in 1996. It was almost wilderness, wild enough that Don, who retired from the Austin Police Department after more than two decades of service, could even hunt feral hogs on the property with some of his officer buddies. Snakes were common enough that he wasn’t rattled by encounters with them.

“He’d just shoot them and keep on doing what he was doing,” Evelyn said.

That lifestyle changed not long after the motorsports world was stunned by the news in 2010 that Austin would be the home of a massive racetrack designed to host the world’s most sophisticated form of auto racing, Formula One.

As the project lurched along, some nearby home owners cashed out, leery of the construction noise and dust and fearful of the coming race-day traffic jams. But Haywood didn’t get an offer from the track or anyone else that he really liked. At one point he bundled his land with that of a neighbor into a 16-acre tract with a price tag of $8.5 million.

There were no takers at that price, and COTA continued to build around him, eventually sandwiching him between the track and a huge parking lot that he had to drive through just to get to his house.

Good parking lots do not always make good neighbors. There were squabbles between Haywood and the track and at least one lawsuit before the parties seem to settle into a truce.

COTA’s main complaint was that, with the campground, Haywood was siphoning off money that could be the track’s revenue.

Haywood seemed to view the campground as compensation for his inconvenience. He had tried other ventures on the property, including a nursery, to supplement his retirement income.

“He was a good man,” Evelyn said.

The pair had a most unusual introduction and bond. According to Evelyn she was in an abusive relationship in the 1980s, and after a domestic dispute, the officer assigned to the call was Haywood. Evelyn said he stayed to tidy up the place.

“What policeman does that?” Evelyn wondered.

Nothing happened then, but four years later they met again, and things progressed from there.

“He took me out of hell and brought me to heaven,” Evelyn said.

There’s a chance that she’ll get, and take, an offer for the land and move on. But it is also possible she’ll remain at Haywood’s Hill.

“It was his dream,” Evelyn said. “I am going to stay here. I will just carry on.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.