July 9, 2012

Marco Andretti is the first Indy car driver that I have photographed exclusively with digital equipment!

Marco started his rookie year in 2006 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway where he started 13th, broke a halfshaft during a pit stop, ending his race that day.  At the Indy 500 in 2006, he became the third Andretti to finish in the top five. It was his first Indy 500 appearance.  He finished second to Sam Hornish Jr. in the second closest finish in Indy history (0.0635), joining his father Michael (5th in 1984) and his grandfather Mario (3rd in 1965 and first in 1969).

On August 27, 2006 Marco became the youngest winner (19 years, 5 months, 14 days) of an Indy car race with his victory at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.  That race, not far from grandfather Mario's winery, made Marco the 2006 IRL Bombardier Rookie of the Year.

Driving for his father Michael Andretti and Andretti Autosport, Marco has teamed up with some very good talent in Ryan Hunter Reay and James Hinchcliff. 

Enjoy these photographs of Marco.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 2, 2012

After an audition to become the lead vocalist for the band King Crimson didn't work out, Brian Ferry formed Roxy Music in 1971.  Robert Fripp of King Crimson was impressed enough with Brian Ferry's audition that he helped Roxy Music get their first record contract.

On February 26, 1975 I photographed Roxy Music at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee.  Also playing that night were the bands StarCastle and Babe Ruth, which is another story sometime soon.

Brian Ferry, with his signature look of the white jacket, bow tie and cumberbun was dressed for the night.  He was amazing but the clear plexiglass violin played by Eddie Jobson was really something to witness.  Plexiglass or composite violins like the Vivo2 Clear played by Vanessa Mae are fairly common these days but in 1975 I had never seen one before.

The saxophone playing by Andy MacKay and the drumming and percussion by Paul Thompson were also excellent that night.  It was a night of Roxy music by Roxy Music!

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 25, 2012

Thank you Michael Andretti for believing in Milwaukee and the continuation of the Milwaukee Mile's history with Indy cars.  On June 15 and 16, Michael Andretti and his team put on an incredible show with the Indy cars and they made it a family affair.  This wasn't your normal race weekend.  Michael Andretti made it a festival with an infield full of fun.  There was a carnival atmosphere with a ferris wheel, bumper cars and even a concert with the band Smashmouth after the race Saturday.  All that was missing was funnel cake!

If you want rain, just schedule an Indy car race because in Milwaukee we haven't had rain in over a month and as soon as it was race time it poured.  The race was delayed for about 1 1/2 hours but the crowd didn't leave since they had things to do while waiting.  There were all of the many infield activities and all kinds of food to eat.  Once the race started, the crowd came back to their seats and they stayed for the whole race.  I sat in the grandstands for the last 30 laps and watched Ryan Hunter Reay pull away.  Usually you see people leaving towards the end, but not this time.  Everyone enjoyed a good race and a good concert afterwards.

The race itself had Dario Franchitti on the pole position with his Honda engine that has apparently been figured out.  At the beginning of the season the Hondas were slow but Dario won the Indy 500 and took control with the beginning of the race in Milwaukee.  Unfortunately,  Dario crashed out after leading for a bit and then Ryan Hunter Reay was coming.  Watching a couple of restarts from the grandstands Ryan just pulled away from the pack.  Tony Kanaan usually is the master of restarts but Ryan was the guy with the perfect setup at the end as he just pulled away from Tony.  Ryan won the race and Tony finished second for an exciting race.

Before the start of the race Michael Andretti announed he would promote the Milwaukee race again next year.  I can't wait for our 2013 Milwaukee Indy Fest!

Attached are a few photographs from the past few years for you to enjoy.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 17, 2012

Just a quick Father's Day blog today.  Here we have Joe Walsh March 19, 1975 at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee during his Barnstorm band days.

These photographs are with film and one of the photos is an ACTUAL double exposure with film!!!!!!!!  There were no digita fixes in 1975!

Which do you think was better,  Joe Walsh in his Barnstorm band days or his James Gang days??

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 11, 2012

Tony Kanaan is probably the most physically fit person on pit lane.  He has become a triathlete and has competed in the Iron Man marathon in Hawaii with fellow Indy Car driver Vitor Meira.

His Indy Car career began in 1998 after winning the Indy Lights championship in 1997.  Through the years he has driven for Forsythe Racing and had Alex Zanardi as a teammate in his second year with Mo Nunn Racing.

In 2003, Tony moved to Andretti Green Racing taking over for retiring race car driver Michael Andretti.  Tony won the 2004 IRL championship and completed every possible lap for the season (3,305)!  He is the first Indy Car driver to complete every lap in a season and that is amazing to me.

In 2011 Tony moved to the KV Racing Technology Team driving for team owner Jimmy Vasser. 

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 4, 2012

Jim Seals and Dash Crofts are two musicians from Texas who were very popular in the 1970's, known as Seals and Crofts.  Today, you can still hear some of their songs such as Hummingbird, Diamond Girl and Summer Breeze. Those were some of their biggest hits.   Their music was inspired by their Baha'i faith beliefs which gave the songs some spiritual themes and lyrics.

The photographs here are from November 30, 1972 when Seals and Crofts played at UW Milwaukee. At that time I was working as a photographer for the Bugle American newspaper.  It was in 1972 that Seals and Crofts released their second album, "Summer Breeze" which charted #7 with Billboard and they were awarded a gold disc for over one million copies sold.

After success in the 1970's they took a break, and in 1980 they lost their contract with Warner Brothers.  A short reunion tour was held in 1991-1992 and they have appeared at Baha'i gatherings.  In 2003, they reunited, recorded and released "Traces" with limited success.

Jim Seals lives in Nashville and Costa Rica where he has a coffee farm.  Dash Crofts and his wife raise Arabian horses on the Crofts family farm in Texas.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 archival gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  Contact us soon and keep checking the website for new images and updates.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 27, 2012

In 1997 Dario Franchitti started racing Indy cars in the USA and little did we know how great he would be.  Today, Dario won his third Indy 500! We can only think that his good friend Dan Wheldon must have helped him on the last lap.  Takuma Sato and Dario had a little incident racing on the last lap and amazingly Dario came away clean and won the race.  Takuma went into the wall.

Dan Wheldon's face is now sandwiched on the Borg Warner trophy at Indy with Dario Franchitti.  If you win the Indy 500, the winner's face is sculpted on the Borg Warner trophy.  Dan would have loved seeing Dario in victory lane today wearing a pair of white framed sunglasses which Dan was always wearing if he did not have his helmet on.  White sunglasses and drinking and pouring milk over your head in victory circle today was a very good thing to see.

The two photographs here are of Dario in 1997 and a little part of my race room collection.  The visors shown are Dario's and Dan Wheldon's.  I think they were talking to each other today!

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 14, 2012

In 1963 when I was 9 years old, I watched the Indy 500 on television and kept track of my favorite drivers on my blackboard in our family's basement.  My favorite driver was Jim Clark, a man from Scotland that just seemed to be so good and he was a farmer!  I got the feeling that he was a  quiet man who just wanted to race.  Jimmy finished in second place at Indy in 1963 and really impressed me.  I kept following him and he won the Indy 500 in 1965.  He has always been my favorite race car driver.  I was so sad when he died in a crash while in Germany in 1968.

After that, Jackie Stewart became my new favorite race car driver.  Then as time went along, I also followed Emerson Fittipaldi and of course Aryton Senna.  In 1997 a new Scottish face appeared on the Indy Car trail racing for Carl Hogan.  Dario Franchitti is his name and he is another Scottish lad who is very good at what he does.  He reminds me of Jim Clark  and I noticed that Jackie Stewart took an interest in him, and that told me that he must be good.

Jackie Stewart was right because Dario has won 4 Indy Racing League championships, 2 Indy 500 races and has a great resume in CART and Champ Car too.  If he can get some extra power out of the Honda engine that so far is down on power this year, I see him doing another victory lap at Indy.   He is good enough that he actually might not need the extra power from Honda because he has the power from inside the helmet!

My race room/man cave has one of Dario's helmet visors and a couple pairs of his driving gloves. We have traded memorabilia for photographs through the years.  They are treasures and I'll keep an eye on them during the Indy 500 this year to try to give him some extra luck and push him to another win.  Jimmy Clark and Greg Moore will be watching and pushing him along from upstairs.

Attached are a few photographs from the past few years for you to enjoy.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 21, 2012

Attention lovers of my music blogs- for the next two weeks we are in the Indy 500 mode!  It's time for the "greatest spectacle in racing", the Indy 500!

We are almost ready for the 2012 Indy 500 race and it seems strange that we won't have last year's winner, Dan Wheldon, there to defend his Indy 500 win.  Dan also won the 2005 Indy 500 and he won the 24 hours of Daytona in 2006.  Dan died in 2011 in a terrible accident at the track in Las Vegas, the final race of the 2011 IRL season.

Dan, after finishing second in the Indy Lights championship in 2001, started his Indy Car run with Panther Racing in 2002.  In 2003, he became the rookie of the year driving for Andretti Green Racing and then for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.  When he won the Indy 500 in 2011 he was driving for Bryan Herta Autosport.  He was a superstitious man in that every time he got into the car he would pat the nose of his car three times!

I have a helmet visor of Dan's that he gave me in 2005 when I gave him some photographs.  I will be looking at it during the race this year and thinking about Dan.  He was a great race car driver and his record shows it. He won the 2005 Indy Racing League championship.

This week, as you enjoy the race, think about Dan and know he watching his friends from upstairs.

Attached are a few photographs from the past few years for you to enjoy.

All blog photographs are for sale at a special price of $30.00 for a limited edition 8 X 10 or 8 1/2 X 11 gloss print which includes shipping in the U.S..  This sale is just during the week of the featured blog.  Contact us soon.

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 30, 2012

My blog today is about a Champ Car/Indy Car driver like no other.  Without Alex Zanardi, we would not have a race car driver celebrating a victory with the race car spinning around in circles making donuts on the pavement!   This seems like a victory dance that has been going on forever but Alex started this in 1996 after a victory.  It is similar to Dan Gurney's victory champagne celebration that is now a tradition after nearly every race worldwide.

Alex has raced in Formula 1, Champ Car, F3000, the World Touring Cars and now is headed to the 2012 Summer Paralympics doing handbiking since he lost his legs in a tragic accident in Germany racing Champ Cars/Indy Cars in 2001.  He demonstrates amazing determination in whatever he sets out to do.  In my race room,man cave here at home, I have race helmet visors that I have collected and have traded photographs for through the years. My Alex Zanardi visor is one of my biggest treasures.  Just looking at it gives me inspiration.

I heard last week that he may be racing next year in the Rolex 24 hour race at Daytona with his former Chip Ganassi teammates and friends- Jimmy Vasser, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya.  How awesome is that and I am sure he will be very competitive.   Alex has a main sponsor in Barilla pasta, which in this house is the only pasta we eat!   We are having some tonight with some homemade meatballs if I ever get done here!

Attached are a few photographs of Alex.

Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories. 

Go have some Barilla pasta tonight and celebrate Alex with some good wine and pasta!

Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann