The 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP

I’ve always been a collector of motorcycle racing programs. Daytona used to produce great programs for the Daytona 200, today not so much. In fact most racing programs are pretty thin with very little original material. The one major exception to that is the Red Bull Indianapolis Moto GP Program.

I just got around to reading this year’s edition and I’ve got to say this is one of the best racing programs I’ve ever seen.

Full disclosure – I have several features in the program, one on Cal Crutchlow, another on Marco Simoncelli and I co-wrote the full MotoGP team and rider profile section with Chris Martin. But putting those aside, the program is loaded with excellent features and jaw-dropping photography.

Some of the features include:

 –          An eye-opening article by Cycle News’ Henny Ray Abrams on what it takes to move the MotoGP operation to Indy. It starts with three Boeing 747s and goes from there.

–          Team and Rider Profiles by The Rider Files’ own Larry Lawrence and Speed TV’s Chris Martin.

–          A tribute feature on Gary Nixon by Superbike Planet’s Dean Adams.

–          Features on Nicky Hayden (Henny Ray Abrams), Ben Spies  (Roadracing World’s David Swarts), Colin Edwards (Henny Ray Abrams), Casey Stoner (Henny Ray Abrams), Marco Simoncelli (Larry Lawrence), Cal Crutchlow (Larry Lawrence), Jake Cagne (David Swarts), Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez (Henny Ray Abrams)

–          A Harley-Davidson XR1200 feature by Henny Ray Abrams.

–          A wonderful feature on Yamaha’s 50 years of GP racing by Sean Bice with stunning historical photography. Highly recommended.

–          Short profiles of the Moto2 and 125cc GP riders.

–          A feature on the coming Moto3 Championship by Henny Ray Abrams.

–          Complete results from the previous Red Bull Indianapolis GPs.

There even a cool little pull-out spotters guide with detailed artist renderings of the bikes with the riders on them. Nifty!

And the photography is worth the price of the book alone.

These will be collector’s items years from now.

I don’t get anything for this, but after reading my copy I had to recommend it.

If you didn’t pick one up at the GP, not to worry. You can still buy the program here.