Cook Neilson (born August 24, 1943) is an American former

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

racer made famous for his win on a

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

750SS at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

in 1977. He graduated from Princeton in the mid 1960s, was hired as associate editor of '' Cycle'' in September 1967; promoted to editor in 1969, and is credited for making that magazine successful through the 1970s. While at ''Cycle'' magazine, he wrote a series of articles on the cookbook construction of a

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 seconds ...

Harley-Davidson Sportster The Harley-Davidson Sportster is a line of motorcycles produced continuously since 1957 by Harley-Davidson. Sportster models are designated in Harley-Davidson's product code by beginning with "XL". In 1952, the predecessors to the Sportster, the ...

. Neilson was inducted into the Ducati North America Hall of Fame, and the AMA

Motorcycle Hall of Fame The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction, or motorcycling in general. It also displays motorcycles ...

in 2006. During his racing career, Neilson had thirty-eight starts and nineteen wins; all on the Ducati 750SS. He also occasionally raced for the Butler & Smith BMW team and the Racecrafter Kawasaki team. Neilson had three podium finishes at Daytona: 1975 (First), 1976 (Third), and 1977 (First). In 2006, Ducati Motor Holdings announced a limited edition replica of Neilson's 750SS winning motorcycle, which he had nicknamed "Old Blue." This motorcycle, named New Blue, will be customized by the NCR racing house based in Bologna. The race replica is in honor of the 30th anniversary of Neilson's win at Daytona. Cook crashed a

Desmosedici RR The Ducati Desmosedici is a four-stroke V4 engine racing motorcycle made by Ducati for MotoGP racing. The series nomenclature is ''GP'' with the two-digit year appended, such as Desmosedici GP10 for 2010. In 2006 Ducati made a short production ...

, one of 1,500 produced, at a Ducati-sponsored trackday at Putnam Park Roadcourse on September 15, 2008. He was not injured in the accident.

References

External links

Ducati: Announcement of Cook Neilson Replica
American motorcycle racers 1943 births Living people Writers from Wilmington, Delaware Motorcycling writers Princeton University alumni {{US-motorcycle-sport-bio-stub

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