April 22, 2024

The weekend of September 11, 1994 at Road America, the CART Indy Cars raced in the the Texaco Havoline 200.

That was a big year of change in CART because of the formation of the IRL series starting up. It was trying to take over the series. That is a whole story in itself someday for another blog, book or movie, but 1994 was a great year of CART racing.

On that nice Fall weekend at Road America we got to see a Canadian in the front row with Paul Tracy in the pole position and a young superstar named Jacques Villeneuve right next to him.

Nigel Mansell was on his last visit to Road America and had the fastest lap of the race but Jacques Villeneuve won it that day.

Team Penske showed up with Emerson Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy and Al Unser Jr. who won the Indy 500 that year with the very secret Mercedes Benz 500I engine that had 1,100hp! Al would end up winning the 1994 championship.

Michael Andretti came back to CART after a year in F1 that didn't go so well. Michael came back driving for Chip Ganassi's new team and won the first race of the year. This was also the last year of Mario Andretti racing in CART and Indy Cars.

Some other great racers you will see here in my photos are Stefan Johansson, Raul Boesel, Arie Luyendyk, Teo Fabi, Adrian Fernandez, Willy T. Ribbs, Scott Goodyear, Mauricio Gugelmin and Bobby Rahal in his beautiful Miller Genuine Draft race car.

Nice to see and remember Dick Simon who was a great team owner for several years for multiple drivers.

Notice the top of Al Unser Jr.'s helmet full of tire rubber and someone else's oil leak!!

Enjoy a look and some beautiful sounding and great looking Indy Cars.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

January 15, 2024

In this blog we take a look back at the 1994 CART Miller Genuine Draft 200 at the Milwaukee Mile on June 5, 1994.

The weekend prior to the Milwaukee Mile race was the Indianapolis 500 which was won by Al Unser Jr. in his Team Penske Ilmor powered Indy Car.

There are not too many racers that have won the Indy 500 and the Milwaukee Mile race the following weekend but Al Unser Jr. was one of them to win both in 1994!

This was the year that Michael Andretti came back to Indy Car with the Target Chip Ganassi Team after an unsuccessful year in Formula 1.

Notice also the photos of Rick Mears giving Casey Mears some advice in his Indy Lights car.

One of the best liveries ever of an Indy Car is Adrian Fernandez Tecate car seen here. It's just beautiful, as is Bobby Rahal's Miller Genuine Draft car.

The Miller Genuine Draft 200 actually became the Miller Genuine Draft 192 because rain ended the race on lap 192.

Raul Boesel was on the pole position but Al Unser Jr. dominated the race.

Finishing second to Al Unser Jr. was Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy making the top three cars, all Team Penske.

Enjoy a look at the Milwaukee Mile in 1994 and get your tickets for the races this year on August 31 and September 1.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 4, 2022

In 2007 the Indy Car racing world was very divided. We had the Indy Racing League (IRL), formed by Tony George in 2003 with his Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the helm.  We also had the Champ Car World Series.

From 2003 through 2007 we had the IRL and Champ Car as two separate series. It was a mess and mistake by Tony George that Indy Car is just now recovering from. In 2008 it became one series again called Indy Car as it still is today.

I was photographing the IRL at the Milwaukee Mile and the Champ Cars at Road America each year for four years.

On August 12, 2007, the Generac Champ Car Grand Prix at Road America was held. Race driver Sebastien Bourdais won the race and end up winning his fourth straight championship at the end of the year. Seabass, as we call him, was fast everywhere then and still is now.

Dan Clarke finished second and a very young Graham Rahal finished third.

All of the Champ Car race cars were beautiful and fast looking with great paint jobs.

Enjoy a look at the guys and a young Katherine Legge racing around beautiful Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

January 24, 2022

This week we look back at the great days of Indy Car racing with the CART race at Road America in 2002. It was a late season race on August 18, 2002.

These were the days of beautiful cars with big horsepower. Cristiano da Matta won the race with Alex Tagliani finishing second and Bruno Junquiera third. Cristiano da Matta would win the championship that year!

Tony Kanaan started last and finished fourth!!!

Notice a photo of Wilson Fittipaldi watching his son Christian at work. Also, notice a picture of me next to Adrian Fernandez's Indy Car sponsored by Tecate!! Beautiful race car livery!

I'm letting the photos do the talking this week.

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

December 27, 2021

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Let's hope that the coming new year is a good one.

On May 31-June 2, 2002, the Milwaukee Mile hosted the Miller Lite 250 for the CART Indy Car series. This was at the time when Tony George was trying to take over the series and started the Indy Racing League (IRL). We are still trying to recover from that mess!

The field of cars was down to 19 for this race thanks to the IRL taking a lot of teams over to their side of the fence.

The race was still a good one with Adrian Fernandez on pole position and Paul Tacy winning. Adrian Fernandez finished second and Max Papis third.

This was also the first year of the new grandstands at the Milwaukee Mile.

Today, the grandstands are still there but they actually have tried selling them through the years! Thankfully, that never happened but motor racing has really declined at the Milwaukee Mile.  It's the oldest race track in the country. Traditionally, the race at the Milwaukee Mile was the first weekend after the Indy 500.

Take a peak at the old days of 2002. Those were some great racing cars. There's nothing like the smell of methanol fuel!

Talk to you next year and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 13, 2016

It is Sunday June 12 as I write this and the tragedy in Orlando is all over the news. Terrible, sad, and what a crazy world we live in these days...

So, let's look at some good days in 2001 at Road America again. I have so many images from that weekend and I am sharing today some of my favorite photos of a young Helio Castoneves and more, of course.

Bryan Herta, Max Papis and Alex Zanardi were racing with Helio and a lot of other good racers!

Looking at the high technology steering wheel with the map of the track on it is interesting.

Enjoy a look back and next week I will share some more pictures from that weekend as we get ready for the Indy cars coming soon to Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann