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

The Champ Car and IMSA series at Road America in 2007.

March 7, 2022

The world is in a crazy place these days but the Indy Car season has begun!

It's great to see Scott McLaughlin win the first race of the year in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has a great future in Indy Car.

Last week was Mario Andretti's 82nd birthday and Sebastian Bourdais on the same day! Will Power's birthday was the following day. He had a strong showing in St. Petersburg. Will is trying to beat Mario Andretti for most pole positions with only one more to do it.

Here are a few photos of the Indy Cars through the years to get us in the mood for the season.

Good luck to all.  Last year's champ ,Alex Palou, has some competition this year. Colton Herta is my pick on his way to the championship!

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 12, 2021

Last week, I focused my blog on the Vintage Indy Reserve cars. This week, I'm showing you the Indy Cars that ran that same weekend at Road America.

Included in this blog are some Indy Lights, USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 race cars and drivers.

The Indy Cars are my favorite race cars of all. They never cease to amaze me with what the drivers can do with them! Takuma Sato is a wild driver and his car shows it as the race went on. It will need some bodywork!

After two days of practice and qualifying, it seemed Joseph Newgarden had things under control for the pole and the race. Well, he got the pole position and led a lot of the race but did not win.

Joseph really seemed to have it done until the last few laps when his gearbox had other ideas. Alex Palou won the race and Colton Herta was close behind in second. Will Power finished third followed by Scott Dixon and the Formula 1 racers Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean.

It was interesting to watch NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson trying to handle an Indy Car. It's going to take some time for him to get up to speed.

Not so for Formula 1 veterans Marcus Ericksson and Romain Grosjean. Romain really is fast and has adapted very well to Indy Car and is having fun being very competitive. Marcus and Romain will be winning soon I believe.

Check out the photos and enjoy the HOT brake photos taken near the end of the race. One actually looked like it was on fire! Unfortunately I missed that shot though..

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 31, 2020

The Indianapolis 500 was a bit different this year because there were no fans and it was not held in the month of May. August 23, 2020 was the day of the great race with Marco Andretti securing the pole position!!

It became a unique race with Marco Andretti on the pole and Mario and Michael Andretti leading him to the green flag in the two seat Indy Car. Sadly, Marco didn't lead a lap, I believe.

Scott Dixon dominated the day except for the last 33 laps when Takuma Sato took the lead. Takuma is now a second time Indy 500 winner.

Congratulations to Takuma and teammate Graham Rahal who finished third. Great day for Bobby Rahal and his team that owns both cars!

I was really pulling for Marco, and then Scott Dixon if Marco couldn't get it done. Rinus Veekay was a rookie I was pulling for also. He survived a scary accident during the race with Spencer Pigot.

You just never know who will win in the end.  That's racing!

Very disappointed at how NBC handled the television coverage for the great race cutting it short.

On another note, I turned 66 years old on August 30th!! Been retired for a year now and busy as can be!

Next project among others is a book on my father Carl Zimmermann! Been working on it for a while and it's a ton of work with lots to do yet.

Enjoy a look at the Indy 500 leaders.  These pictures were taken almost two months ago at Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

September 23, 2019

I have been retired now for 20 days and I'm tired!!!  I have been catching up on chores I've wanted to do and have a ton more to do. I'm not complaining though!

Yesterday was the final race of the Indy Car season and it was an awesome race!

Colton Herta at 19 years old won the race from pole position and Joseph Newgarden won the championship! Personally, I was pulling for Scott Dixon for the race win and championship but it was not meant to be. Scott's previous two races with mechanical issues really put him out of the championship hunt. He tried very hard though starting and finishing yesterday's race in second place.

Here are a few photos of the guys from Road America this year and now we have to wait a whole year before we see them race again!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 24, 2019

What a fun and busy weekend with Indy Cars at Road America! I even ended up on the radio at 105.7fm, The Final Inspection show on Saturday!! Check it out at radio.com in the "on demand" section.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi were the stories of the weekend. Colton at 19 years old won the pole position for the Indy Car race!

For the race, Colton only led the first three turns and then it was Alexander Rossi all day to win the race!

I let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 6, 2018

This is part three of my blogs on the Indy Car weekend at Road America. We look at images from Sunday here and mostly of the race.

It's amazing how hard these guys drive and how beautiful cars are. They have got to be true athletes to drive these cars the way that they do.

I also have a few images of the victory celebration from the Sunday morning Indy Lights race.

Enjoy some photos of a fun weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 23, 2018

Here is a look at the Indy Cars at Road America on Saturday, June 23 a few weeks back.

Bryan Herta had a great weekend winning one of the Indy Lights races on Saturday. A few photos here show him making donuts while celebrating in turn five!

Will Power is shown really pushing it during qualifying and going off track. He qualified P1 though.

Enjoy a look at some beautiful cars. Love the new body/aero kit on the Indy Cars.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 3, 2017

With summer here and life being so busy, I have started writing a blog every other week now. Indy cars last weekend and Summerfest this week, I'm too busy!

Here is a look at Friday of last weekend. The Indy Cars were at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.  It's such a beautiful track.

Colin Herta is going to be a great race car driver in the future and you get a look at him here.  He is Bryan Herta's son, and being on the Andretti Motorsports team, this kid is going to go far. Fuel and turbo issues had him doing zero laps in the morning and then he came out to get pole position for race 2 of Indy Lights.

Enjoy a look and I have to gear up for Steve Miller tonight at Summerfest rain or shine!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann