Witness the scene four years ago when he was taking a practice run on a vintage Ducati racing motorcycle at Sears Point Raceway. He had just dropped into the Carousel, a high-speed downhill turn, when suddenly the rear wheel came loose. The bike shot out from under him in one direction while he went in another, sliding on his backside at more than 100 miles per hour into a pile of hay bales. But remarkably, the lithe professor walked away from the crash with only a few bruises. Nor has he ever been seriously hurt in any of the races in which he's competed during the past five years.
Riding takes a lot of time and patience to master.
It's not about being a fearless speed freak. That will only get you into the hospital. He bought his first motorcycle, a two-stroke Yamaha sport bike, in his early 20s when he was working as a visual artist and university lecturer in Nice, France. During a typical eight-lap sprint race, Schnapp may bang handlebars with 10 to 20 other riders vying for space at the front of the pack, with another 40 riders close behind. At 46, Schnapp admits he is one of the older riders on the circuit.