August 17, 2020
IMSA racing at Road America is such a fun time. This year we had rain coming down so hard at times. It was just crazy!! I've photographed in the rain before but nothing like this.
The race was red flagged I think twice because of the downpours. My favorite photo might be of corner worker Nate Kosak. He was waving the red flag in turn five with the Whelen Cadillac. The Cadillac had a broken nose and there was one other accident that was enough to call for a red flag to stop the race for a bit. Cars were flying everywhere and hydroplaning if they could see at all because of the rain.
In between the rain storms I had a chance to run to my Acura and drive it from turn five to turn eight. The good thing about both of these turns is they have little platforms with a wooden roof to hide in from the rain! I actually was fairly dry other than my tennis shoes! I wrapped the Sony camera in a towel to shoot through and it worked out well.
There are a ton a photographs to look at here.
Crazy race on Sunday! Congratulations to Helio Castroneves who got the win! He deserved it for leading most of the day and really being chased by the Mazda team and a couple of Cadillacs.
The Corvettes had a great race finishing one and two with a pass of the BMW in the rain!! Love the side by side in the rain Corvette photo!!
Aaron Telitz our Wisconsin guy put his Lexus on pole but the crazy day had him finish third. Next time Aaron!!
Enjoy some wet and dry photos of a wild weekend.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
IMSA having fun in the wet and dry at Road America! I've never gotten sooooo wet at a race but it makes for great photos!!
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
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 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
June 6, 2016
The Indy cars are coming to Elkhart Lake's Road America in a few weeks. So I thought it would be good to look at some of the great days at Road America in 2001.
Here are photos of the CART days back then with some of the drivers of the day. Gil DeFerran and Helio CastroNeves were with Penske Racing at that time. The pictures of
Alex Zanardi were before he was with Target and Chip Ganassi Racing. You will also see here pictures of Michael Andretti, Max Papis, Kenny Brack, Bruno Janquiera, Christiano DeMatta, Memo Gidley, Alex Tagliani and more.
The last photo is of Christian Fittipaldi and his front brake rotors on fire! That was a result from hard braking in turn five.
Enjoy a look at these and I'll have some more next week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
August 25, 2014
Milwaukee IndyFest 2014 at the Milwaukee Mile is history and the IRL crews are about to race in California as I write this blog. Early Sunday morning they had earthquakes just a few miles away from the California racetrack. I hope all are all right and ready to race again.
The Milwaukee race was a good fight for Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya. I was pulling for Montoya as my other favorite, Helio Castroneves, just wasn't in the picture much during the race. I think Helio's championship title fight might be over. There are just not enough races left to gain points for Helio. Milwaukee, once again, isn't good for Helio come race time.
I was very happy to see Matthew Brabham running well in the Indy Lights and I see big things for this young man. His father Geoff, who was at the race, is a great driver coach for his son. Geoff raced Indy cars a bit, but really is famous for racing the Nissan IMSA GTP cars in the 1980's and winning a lot of races.
Matthew Brabham would have won his Indy Lights race if not for a late crash and then a bad restart. He finished P2 and was just heart broken sitting on the wall after the race with his Dad. He is learning quickly what racing is all about.
I hope you enjoy a look at Matthew Brabham, Rick Mears and the rest of the guys.
Have a great week.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
August 18, 2014
This past weekend was Milwaukee Indyfest 2014! I am writing this on Friday before the weekend that I will be photographing one of my favorite things in life, Indy Cars!!
So, here is a look back at 2013. One of these guys should win, except, of course, for Dario Franchitti who is now retired due to injuries sustained last year at the Houston race. I miss seeing him race. He will be coaching for Chip Ganassi's team and will still be on pit lane. Also, Simona DeSilvestro won't be back because she is now pursuing a Formula One career. Good luck to her with that adventure.
Enjoy a look at Helio, Will Power and the guys from last year. I'm pulling for Helio to get 'er done. Then he could win the championship this year. Good luck to Helio Castroneves. He needs it! He has never won in Milwaukee and The Mile has not been kind to him when it comes to race day.
Next week, we will give you the results blog with some great photos of the guys. Hope to see you at the track.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
June 10, 2013
This coming weekend Milwaukee's IndyFest is going to happen!
This past weekend the Indy cars were in Texas and Helio Castroneves won the race and did his usual fence climbing after he won!
I am hoping Helio wins Milwaukee and the championship!
He's fun to watch and follow because he has sooo much energy.
His good friend Tony Kanaan won the Indy 500 and now Helio is on his way to hopefully winning the IRL championship.
Attached are photos of Helio's first year in an Indy car at the Milwaukee Mile in 1999. He won the pole position that weekend with a new track record. Also attached are some pictures from last year's race at Milwaukee IndyFest.
Enjoy and come join us this coming weekend for some Indy car fun!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
