September 5, 2016

Just a little blog today looking at Al Unser Jr. at the CART race at the Milwaukee Mile in 1991.

Little Al, as he was called, didn't win the race or the championship in 1991 but he had a pretty good year. Michael Andretti won the race at Milwaukee and the 1991 CART championship.

Enjoy a look back and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Al Unser Jr. at the CART race at the Milwaukee Mile in 1991.

July 25, 2016

On race day morning the Indy cars usually do a warmup session to make sure that all systems are working on the cars. This year at Road America it was raining in the morning for the warmup session. With the race weather predicted to be sunny and hot, nobody was going out for the warmup it seemed.

Then, I heard one Indy car spring to life and saw Sebastian Bourdais getting ready to go out! He was wearing some big wet weather boots until he got into his car. He had the track to himself for almost the whole session other than Graham Rahal going out for just one lap.

How much fun was he having?? I think a lot by the look on his face when he got out of the car. He was out there for probably about 10 laps and had the whole four mile track to himself. The sound of just one car and seeing the spray of water behind his car was awesome! In the photos you can see what a wet weather rain tire looks like. They move a lot of water! Normally, an Indy car runs slicks with no grooves at all. I have included a photo of Sebastian during the race and you can see the difference in the tires.

I also have included photos of Sebastian being introduced to the fans with Miss Wisconsin's help.

Also included here are photos of Mario Andretti and the lucky winner of the sweepstakes who got to ride in the two seater Indy car with him. A little height difference between the two men! Enter the sweepstakes at Honda.com and you might get to ride too!

Have a good week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 18, 2016

Finally catching up with editing the photographs that I took on Saturday of the Indy car weekend at Road America! On that Saturday I only took 739 photos, so there are just a few to edit.

I don't want you all to see the bad stuff, and yes I shoot bad ones. So I go through every shot and check them out and get rid of the bad ones.

What you see here are just a few that I like and find interesting.

Marco Andretti's shoes are interesting in that you will see his initials sewn into them.

Helio, Graham Rahal and a few guys bouncing over the bumps in Canada Corner is something to witness, not just to see, but to hear their cars going over the bumps, because they come into the corner a little too fast. It's something! It also must hurt the bum bouncing on them like that! They are just inches off the ground and there is not much padding for the driver in his seat.

I have also included a couple photos of Zak Veach and James French from the Indy Lights cars that raced that weekend too. Zak has won just about everything this year and was on the pole. James French is our local boy from Sheboygan who usually races in an IMSA car but did the Indy Lights as a substitute driver for the weekend.  It was a different environment for him. He is young and going to be good. Wish our local boy all the best in the future!

Enjoy a look from the roof of the media center by the start/finish line. It's a very cool view and you can see into the cars a bit.

Have a good week and please join me on Facebook if you haven't for more fun photos!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 11, 2016

I think it is time for me to digitally scan more of my Indy car photographs from the 1990's and early 2000's.

After the passing of Carl Haas recently, I went through my digital archived collection of Indy car races. Couldn't find a whole lot of pictures of Carl Haas and I know I have more of him with his cigar, which was never lit. At least I never saw it lit!

Carl Haas passed away a few weeks ago from complications from Alzheimers disease. Terrible disease that I know about all too well because my mother was diagnosed with it.

The Milwaukee Mile and Indy Car can thank Carl for so much work that he has done for both. Paul Newman was his partner and at his side most of the time at the races. Mario Andretti was his main driver for years and then Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Sebastian Bourdais came along.

When he brought Nigel Mansell over to Indy Car, fresh from a Formula 1 championship, people couldn't believe it!

Sebastian Bourdais won 4 consecutive championships with Carl and Paul. They were the team to be a part of because they were so good.

Newman Haas Racing is a team that is missed on the grid very much.

Enjoy a look at Carl, Paul and a few friends.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 4, 2016

Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans!  Hope you all are having a nice holiday.

Well, I really enjoy shooting photos but then comes editing. An old wet darkroom to me was more fun than digital editing but the world has changed to digital.

I must say that it is easier to shoot 580 photographs in the digital world rather than film.

I have trimmed it down to 247 good photos and a few are shared here.

Some of these photos are from a press conference that Robin Miller had with Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy and Juan Pablo Montoya. It was awesome and I could have listened to their stories for days!

This was also the first time that I have met Alexander Rossi. He's a nice, really young man. Really young, or I'm getting really old?

Enjoy and more photos next week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 27, 2016

It was fun this past weekend with Indy cars back at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Not enough time to go into everything and edit a million photos today though.

So here are a few photos from Sunday, with our race winner Will Power and my new friend, Indy Lights driver, James French.

Enjoy, and more coming soon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 20, 2016

Today I thought we would explore my huge interest in race cars. I really like Indy cars in case you haven't noticed.

These photos today begin in 1971 when I photographed Indy Cars on my television!  Cars from CART, Champ Car, IRL and even Mika Hakkinens F1 car that was at Elkhart Lake's Road America as a show car are shown here this week.

My favorite is from 1971 before the cars got their wings!  After that, I like the CART era cars, when we had big horsepower, with multiple engine suppliers that gave us great sounding engines! Plus, each car looked different, whereas today, the IRL cars look very similar if not the same other than sponsors.

Take a look at a few of them and tell me what your favorite race car was through the years.

Enjoy, and say hi to me at Road America this coming weekend where the Indy cars are finally coming back!!! It's going to be great!

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

The CART Indy cars at Elkhart Lakes, Road America in 2001.