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

February 21, 2022

Winter in Wisconsin is time for getting indoor chores done!

My wife and I are back into our project of writing a book about my father, Carl Zimmermann.

We have been working on this for over two years now, and I think we are getting close to having something that looks like a book.  It's a lot of hard work and fact checking and then finding photos of him and memorabilia of his life in broadcasting.

Since we are really deep into this project right now I have no blog on racing or music this week.  Our focus is on this project until it's done, or at least pretty close to done. 

My mother saved everything about Dad's career and we have several scrapbooks. They are old and not in the greatest condition but it documents the wonderful love and life my parents had for many years.

We have pieced their life histories and are getting closer to looking at the amazing career my father had starting at age 14 when he worked at WEMP radio. Then came the Army and WW2 with dad being a broadcaster overseas for the "Army Hour" radio show.

A little break after that with home life and radio in Milwaukee. Then, the Korean War started and Dad was called back into the Army to Washington D.C. to do a television show for the Army called "The Big Picture".

Take a little peak at some of the photos that will be included in the book.

Hopefully, by years end it will be done and available for your reading pleasure!

Enjoy and thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 7, 2022

Every once in a while an old photo job comes to mind.

This was one of those fun jobs at Ed Debevic's restaurant here in Milwaukee on September 18,1996. Some of the cast from "Happy Days" came to help promote being rebroadcast on the cable channel Nick at Night.

Marion Ross who played Mrs. Cunningham or Mrs. C came was so much fun that night.  She said several times to me that she was my real mother once I introduced myself to her.  I became Richie Cunningham for a few hours, not Rich Zimmermann!

Tom Bosley who played Mr. C, Erin Moran who played Joanie Cunningham and Pat Morita who played Arnold the chef also showed up for fun and celebration.

Pat Morita was the nicest guy and is a great comedian! He flipped some burgers that night as he did on "Happy Days" and interacted with everybody.

A good friend of mine and I were hired for the event.  Tom Bosley after posing with about 30 couples said he was done!  Guess I was done too.

Marion Ross is 93 years old now and unfortunately the rest have passed on. Ed Debevic's closed years ago in Milwaukee but the Chicago location is still thriving.

Enjoy a look at the cast in 1996 at Ed Debevic's.

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

The CART Indy Car series at Road America in July of 2002.

CART Indy Cars having a great time in 2002 at Road America.

January 10, 2022

Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a great ahead!  I hope you like this blog on the Shinyribs! If you've never heard of them listen to them on iTunes, Spotify or something else. You won't regret it!

The Shinyribs are from Austin, Texas and are led by Kevin Russell who is a show in himself. He is the leader for sure and has a lot of fun with his large band and multiple singers.

My Rich Zimmermann Photography calendar for 2022 has the Shinyribs on the cover. Hope you got one of my calendars!

The show on September 4, 2021 at Summerfest was so good, I stayed for the whole thing.

Try to see Kevin and his band the Shinyribs whenever you can.  It's a fun show and you will enjoy it.

Here are some photos from that night.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Shinyribs at Summerfest September 4, 2021.

Wonderful CART racing at the Milwaukee Mile May 31-June 2, 2002.

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