Question

does the highlighted text include one complete thought or two complete thoughts?
joe west, meanwhile, painted banners for the bobsled race.
one complete thought two complete thoughts

Explanation:

A complete thought (a sentence) has a subject and a predicate. Here, "Joe West" is the subject, and "painted banners for the bobsled race" (with "meanwhile" as an adverbial) forms the predicate. The text expresses one action (Joe West painting banners) as a single idea, so it's one complete thought.

Answer:

One Complete Thought