ROAD TEST: Schnapp took up racing while studying the cultural history of speed. Gary Rather

When you think of a Stanford professor on his bike, images of the Main Quad come to mind: a solitary figure on a 3-speed beater, sport jacket flapping against the seat, a Velcro ankle strap protecting his trousers from the chain.

That would not be Jeffrey Schnapp, and we’re not talking about that kind of bike.

Schnapp, PhD ’84, a professor of Italian literature, races formula singles motorcycles—single-cylinder hybrid machines that meld the aerodynamic body of a European racing cycle with the motor of Japanese-built bikes. Competing in a series sponsored by one of the nation’s oldest road racing associations, the American Federation of Motorcyclists, Schnapp competes in a series that runs from March to October. As of early August, he led the point standings in his class.

He has been racing since mid-July with a broken collarbone, suffered during a crash at a practice session. “Lost the front end going through an 80 miles-per-hour turn,” he notes.

So, why does he do this? “The immediate motivation,” says Schnapp, “was a book on the cultural history of speed that I began working on seriously in the mid-1990s. I didn’t want the book to have the conventional academic introduction and afterword, and thought that an autobiographical framework would be far more interesting.” He has been racing ever since.

“Barring a major disaster,” he says, he should lock up the West Coast championship in late September—just in time for his 50th birthday.