October 26, 2015

A long time ago, I had the pleasure of getting to know a band called Heartsfield. These guys were some of the best musicians on the planet. They've made a few albums that should have made it to the top of the charts in country/rock.

The music business, as some of us know, is all about who you know and being in the right place at the right time. That never happened for them but they got really close!

A version of Heartsfield is still around and sounds great but they are not the original band members other than Fred Dobrinski. From the original band, J C Hartsfield, Perry Jordan and Stuart Nevitt are no longer with us.

Check out the new band some time soon when they are in your area and you will hear some wonderful music!

I had always hoped that my first album cover was going to be for them in 1975, but it wasn't to be.

Enjoy a look at the original Heartsfield in the 1970's.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Heartsfield in the 1970's

October 18, 2015

Wow, it's been a crazy couple of weeks around here!

We took our annual October vacation, and went to beautiful Fish Creek in Door County, Wisconsin. We take our bicycles, and go riding around the Sunset Trail in Peninsula State Park. Rain, snow or whatever it may be, we usually go out on the trail! We got a little wet at the end of our first ride. OK, we got soaked!! Still it was lots of fun and we dried off pretty quickly.

We had some delicious meals and didn't have to cook or do dishes for a while and that's always nice!

I finally went smallmouth bass fishing, on the legendary waters of Lake Michigan with Paul, who runs Jack Island Charters. You need a day when the wind isn't going nuts and we had a great day for once. It was a nice, sunny, fairly warm, and a low wind day! We had a blast catching lots of smallmouth bass! Nothing big, buts lots of them and I caught a gobie with my minnow at one point of the day! That is weird!

Needed to mow the grass when we got home and spun a roller wheel off our rider lawnmower. No problem, got the parts and mowed and then got off the thing and blew my back out for a few days, again!

Apple had a new update that I did before we left and it still has email all screwed up. I see that they have another update coming in about a week. I thought it was our computer and got our computer wizard over and he couldn't figure it out. I even tried my website wizard and he couldn't fix it either. Also, called Apple and they got it working for a few hours! Thank you Jeffry and Charles for the help. Since my computer guy was here and there is a hard drive recall on our computer, off went out computer to get a new hard drive and restoration. That was why there was no blog last week. First time that I have missed my weekly blog EVER! My first blog was on February 26, 2012 and I have had one every Monday until last week!

So, enjoy a few photos of our fun vacation and check out a company in Sheboygan we went by that has my last name, Zimmermann!! Love their sign and their visitor parking sign!

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Our Door County Vacation 2015!

October 5, 2015

One of my favorite race car drivers is Sebastian Bourdais.  Since his beginning days in Champ Car, I have enjoyed watching him drive and win a lot of races.

I have also enjoyed his famous fights with Paul Tracy years ago in Champ Car, which made for even more enjoyable racing!

After winning some championships in Champ Car, Sebastian went to Formula 1. He should have stayed here in America because the Formula 1 experience didn't work out so well.

It is good to see him racing again in an Indy Car where he belongs. Sebastian also has been doing well in sports car racing winning some nice races.

It has been his second year in the IRL cars and he gets more comfortable and better with each race. A championship wasn't all that far away this past year. Maybe next year he will win the IRL championship and I hope he does.

Enjoy a look at Seabass this past year in Milwaukee.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

September 28, 2015

Today, Monday September 28, 2015 will go down in history for James Hinchcliffe! It will be the return to the cockpit of his racing car and doing laps at Elkhart Lake!!!

Since James had his horrific crash during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he has waited for this day. When he woke up from his big accident in the hospital, the first thing he asked about was when can he could get back into his race car! He is a racer and that is all he thinks about.

The second of two testing days is today at Elkhart Lake and it is not open to the public. Too bad I can't see that big smile on his face after a few laps at Elkhart Lake.

I wish him well and I'm sure he will be a little sore tonight after testing day but he will be a happy racer again. The mayor of Hinchtown is back!

Enjoy a look back at James at the Milwaukee Mile in 2014.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Sebastian Bourdais at the Milwaukee Mile in 2015.

James Hinchcliffe at the Milwaukee Mile in 2014.

September 21, 2015

It's been a bad week for rock'n'roll. We lost Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon and Kenny Baldwin who was a stage manager at the Briggs and Stratton stage at Summerfest.

Kenny was one of the first people I went to see along with his buddy Rick Erickson at the Briggs stage every year at Summerfest. Good people running a good stage.

Gary Richrath I never knew but photographed years ago.

Enjoy a look at Gary of REO and have a good week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

September 14, 2015

My last blog was on Scott Dixon, our new IRL champion. Everyone, as I said then, was looking at Graham Rahal or Juan Montoya to win the championship.

This photo blog is about Graham Rahal and his career milestones so far.  I start with photos from 2004, when he was in Formula BMW at Elkhart Lake. Then, 2007 at Elkhart Lake when he was in his first year, his rookie year of Champ Car. That had to be a big jump because Champ Car then had sooo much horsepower! Then a few photos of this year 2015 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Graham had a lot of help through the years, and one of his mentors and supporters was Paul Newman, who ran Newman Haas Racing with Carl Haas. Paul did so much for the sport that I must mention him and include a few photos from 2007 and 2008.

Enjoy a look at Graham and hopefully next year will be his year!

Please join me on Facebook at Rich Zimmermann Photography if you haven't already and please note that limited edition, certified, gallery style, 8 1/2 X 11's are on sale this week for $50.00 plus shipping!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann