---
title: "BREAKING NEWS: Road & Track Names Kim Wolfkill New Editor-in-Chief"
description: "Larry Webster steps down, will continue to contribute."
date: "2016-02-25"
modified: "2016-02-25"
authors:
  - name: "Lawrence Ulrich"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/lawrence-ulrich"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/2341/breaking-news-road-track-names-kim-wolfkill-new-editor-in-chief"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "People"
tags:
  - "Road & Track"
---

# BREAKING NEWS: Road & Track Names Kim Wolfkill New Editor-in-Chief

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*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

It’s good that car magazines have fleets of automobiles at their disposal, considering the dizzying turmoil in publishing that are shuffling owners, editors, and even full staffs like so many game pieces.

The latest to ring the moving company is Kim Wolfkill, announced today as the latest editor-in-chief of Hearst Magazines’ *Road & Track*. Wolfkill takes over from Larry Webster, who stepped down but will continue to contribute to the nation’s longest-running auto enthusiast magazine, founded in 1947.

“It is an incredible honor to return to *Road & Track* and take the wheel,” Wolfkill said. “I am thrilled to lead the talented team here in Ann Arbor at a time when the auto industry is in such a pivotal and exciting place.”

Wolfkill rejoins a magazine where he served as senior editor from 2003 to 2006, and where his hot-shoe skills helped build his versatile reputation. Wolfkill’s racing career includes stints in the SPEED World Challenge, Rolex Sports Car Series and Porsche Michelin Supercup.

Wolfkill will join the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based magazine from the Seattle area, where he was senior business manager for Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios. Wolfkill most recently managed partnerships for the Forza Motorsport Xbox game franchise, with previous Microsoft positions including publisher of MSN Autos.

“Kim is the total package,” said Eddie Alterman, editor in chief of *Car and Driver* and editorial director of *Road & Track*, in a statement. “He is a great editor, a great racer and a great business leader. We are lucky to have his enthusiasm and expertise back at *Road & Track*.”

In 2011, the Hearst Corporation paid $887 million to buy 102 magazines from the French company Lagardère, including *Road & Track*, *Car and Driver* and *Elle*. Hearst soon moved *Road & Track* from its longtime California home to Ann Arbor, and fired most of the staff as the magazine joined *Car and Driver* in its Michigan digs.

Like other American magazine giants including Time Inc. and Condé Nast, Hearst is navigating a stormy transition in publishing that’s seeing advertising dollars flee traditional print magazines for digital. With Hearst and everyone else under pressure to maintain profits while cultivating new revenue sources in digital and video, nabbing Wolfkill—with his experience across multiple editorial and content platforms as well as proven business acumen—seems of a piece with both company and industry strategy.

## Author
Born and forged in the Motor City, now a Brooklynite, Lawrence is the former chief auto critic at the *New York Times* and *Detroit Free Press*. His award-winning work has appeared in *Automobile*, *Road & Track*, *Fortune*, *Conde Nast Portfolio*, *Men's Journal*, *Popular Science* and others.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/lawrenceulrich>)