August 26, 2019

I have showed these photos before of Tim Seebold doing a crazy flip in his tunnel boat, but they are worth seeing again! Tim was fine and won a race the next day.

This was the 1991 St. Louis Bud Lite Grand Prix on a section of the Merrimac River. In those days, this was the Indy 500 of boat racing in St. Louis.

Good to see F1 boats running again and on television with Tim Seebold as an announcer doing a great job.

Check out Tim and a few photos of St. Louis in 1991, just a few years ago!

The photographer running in the last frame was a Mercury racing photographer friend and was fine. No one got hurt in this incident thankfully.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 11, 2016

Racing season has begun with practice laps being run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

Nascar doesn't count with me, and yes, we have had a few Indy car races, but this year we have the 100th running of the Indy 500!

Here are some old photos from the late 1980's and 1990 with some different forms of real racing!

Check out Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Geoff Brabham, Bill Seebold and a few other folks way back when and get ready for the 100th Indy 500. All of these guys were the best in their race craft.

Who are you picking for the winner if the Indy 500? It's early yet but I'm going with Scott Dixon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Some different racing styles to look at to get us going this year!

August 24, 2014

In tunnel boat racing in the 1990's, Buck Thornton was an excellent racer. Bill Seebold and Buck were the old guys and they were probably the best racers out there.

Buck was from Louisiana and was always classy and clean. You would never see him without his hat and team colors.  Both he and his crew were always well dressed.

He gave the Seebolds some good competition and was fun to be around. He passed away a few years ago. We miss him and what he brought to the sport of tunnel boat racing.

Enjoy a few photos of Buck from the 1990 St. Louis Grand Prix.

Please join me on Facebook at Rich Zimmermann Photography if you haven't yet to stay up to date with my photography.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Buck Thornton, at the St. Louis Grand Prix in 1990.

August 17, 2015

The next few weeks of blogs will make my boat racing friends happy!

This week, we feature the Seebold family racing at the St. Louis Grand Prix in 1990 and 1991. Bill Seebold along with his sons, Mike and Tim, are comparable to the Andretti family in Indy cars.

They live in the St. Louis area and the St. Louis Grand Prix is their home race.

In boat racing, the St. Louis Grand Prix is equal to the Indy 500 or the big Daytona 500 race for NASCAR.

Bud Light was the main sponsor for many years of the St. Louis Grand Prix. Budweiser's home is St. Louis and this race is BIG. It is known worldwide with racers coming from all over the globe.

So, enjoy a few photos of the Seebold family racing in St. Louis in 1990 and 1991. The next few weeks will feature other boat racing teams and other boat races.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Seebold family racing team at the St. Louis Grand Prix in 1990 and 1991.

March 30, 2015

First of all, I must thank Larry Widen for helping me with last week's blog about Steve Miller. He helped me to get the year that the photos were taken all straightened out! The show that was pictured in last week's blog of Steve Miller with Leslie West at Summerfest was 1977. I wasn't sure, so I asked all of you for some feedback and thanks to Larry, who was at the show, it's all figured out now! Love feedback from you and please know that I read and respond to every comment.

This week's blog came about because of a photograph of mine that appeared on a Facebook page without my knowledge. I was like, I think that is my photo!! So, I got home, checked it out and it is my photo!

It is one of seven images of boat racer Tim Seebold, racing in the SST 140 class race during the St. Louis Grand Prix weekend in 1991. Tim Seebold and his family is probably the most famous family of boat racers. His father Bill, brother Mike, and grandfather Bill senior, all race boats.  They usually win every race they participate in!

So, in the race shown here, Tim Seebold didn't win. Going into the turn, Mark Miller driving the boat on the inside of the turn, trimmed down a little bit, then Tim did, and then Mark straightened out and ran under Tim's boat forcing it into the air. This lifted Tim's boat and then it just forced him up, up, up into the air!  It was amazing.

I watched it all in the viewfinder of my Nikon and just let the motordrive do it's job until it ran out of film! Remember film? Wow, do I wish this was a digital situation and I could have just kept on shooting. But back then, there were only 36 shots to a roll. I wish I could have gotten a few more photos of the landing of Tim's boat.

Well, Tim walked away from this but the boat didn't! It was broken up pretty good and I never did hear what happened to it after the accident. If anyone knows, let me know about the boat repair job and if it ever raced again.

One last interesting fact for you- in the last frame you can see a fellow photographer without his shirt on running away! He is the official Mercury Racing photographer and he got a few great shots of Tim coming directly at him before he ran away!

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Tim Seebold, getting a little air at the St. Louis Grand Prix on 8-11-1991.