Steven L. Thompson

Motorcycle racing

As a motorcycle racer, Thompson competed in the US, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. He also competed three times in the Isle of Man; in the 1970 and 1971 Manx Grands Prix, he was unable to start the Junior (350cc) race on his Shepherd-Kawasaki because of machine failures in practice and qualifying. In 1987, racing as the sole rider for Team Cycle World, he entered the Formula One and 750 Production TT races in May–June, and completed both races, lapping in the 750 Production race at 101.2 mph, making him the first American journalist and fourth American professional racer to have lapped the TT course at over "the ton"—100 mph. Two motorcycles were used, and Thompson rode both in the shorter-duration classification and the 24-hour event, in the process being awarded, with the rest of the team, 6, 12, and 24-hour FIM World Speed Records.

Professional timeline August 1972–March 1973: Freelance commercial artist March 1973–Oct. 1974: Art Director and Senior Editor, Competition Press & Autoweek magazine, Reno, Nevada Oct. 1974–Dec. 1976: Editor-in-Chief, Road Test magazine, Compton, CA Jan 1977–May 1978; Executive Editor, Car and Driver magazine, New York City, NY July 1978–Jan. 1980; editorial director, Cycle Guide magazine Jan 1980–Dec. 1981; Director of Editorial Development, Cycle Guide Publications April 1982–Oct 1984, Executive Editor, AOPA Pilot magazine 1982–1985, Editor-at-Large, Cycle Guide magazine Jan 1983–Oct 1984, Vice President, Publications Division, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association 1985–1992, Editor-at-Large, Cycle World magazine 1993–2007, Senior Contributing Editor, AutoWeek magazine 2005-2025, Outside Editor, Range magazine December 2011–December 2017, Contributing Editor, Cycle World

Books

Recovery, fiction, Warner Books, hardcover 1980, ; softcover, 1981; with foreign editions in Italy, Holland, and Japan Countdown to China, fiction, Warner Books, softcover, 1982, ; foreign editions Bismarck Cross, fiction, Tor Books, softcover, 1983, ; foreign editions The Wild Blue, fiction, (with Walter J. Boyne), Crown Publishers, hardcover 1985, ; softcover 1987; foreign editors Airburst, fiction, Worldwide, softcover, 1987, ; foreign editions Top End, fiction, Worldwide, softcover, 1989, ; foreign editions Bodies in Motion: Evolution and Experience in Motorcycling, non-fiction, Aero Design, 2008, softcover,