Max Papis at Road America in 2003 and the Milwaukee Mile in 2000.

April 6, 2026

Hope everyone had a very nice Easter like we did thanks to my gourmet chef wife. I ate too much but it was the first day in about a week I felt close to normal thanks to chemotherapy making me sick again.

So my blog this week is on friend and racer Max Papis. He continues to be in Indy Car as the chief steward along with Arie Luyendyk.  Arie is another friend and an old neighbor of ours. 

I can't believe that I've never done a blog on "Mad Max" or even have photos of his racing career in my website. So here we go!

Max earned the nickname "Mad Max" after the drive he did towards the end of the 1996 24 hours of Daytona. He was a lap down in his Ferrari 333SP but got the lap back and almost won the race chasing Wayne Taylor. He even did a pit stop at racing speed and that changed the following year when you could no longer drive in on racing speed. Mad Max finished 64 seconds behind to finish second.

A true racer in just about all types of racing as he has been in Formula One, Indy Car, CART, Champ Car, IMSA, NASCAR and even Stadium Trucks. He started winning in go karts as a very young driver in his native Italy and in the CART Indy Car Series he won 3 races.

I've gotten to know Max and his family through the years. Married to Tatiana Fittipaldi they have two children that are racing now of course. Matteo and Marco have a great coaches with Max. Max even helps out his cousins Pietro and Enzo Fittipaldi in their racing careers.

If that isn't enough Max and Tatiana started Max Papis Innovations in 2009. They supply racing steering wheels and many more new racing products every day. Checkout www.maxpapisinc.com to see all their products.

I've photographed Max for years in Indy Car at Road America and  at the Milwaukee Mile.

Attached here are photos of Max at Road America finishing 4th in 2003 and the Milwaukee Mile where he finished seventh. I'll continue digging in the archives and add more photos of Max in the future.

Enjoy some photos from 2000 and 2003 and have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich

Amy Madigan with her band Methyl Ethyl and the Keytones at the UWM Student Union Hall in late 1972.

March 23, 2026

I'm very happy that my long time friend, Amy Madigan, won an Oscar last Sunday night for her role as Aunt Alice in the movie Weapons.

It is well deserved as she has been in film for a long time. Her first acting appearance was on the television show Hart to Hart in 1981.

After a lot of television and movies it's great to see her get an Oscar. She has done a lot of work and one of my favorite movies was Field of Dreams.

In the 1970's she was in several bands as a vocalist here in Milwaukee while she was attending Marquette University graduating with a B.S. degree in Philosophy in 1972.

By 1974 she moved to Los Angeles and began to get into acting and then marrying actor Ed Harris in 1983.

In late 1972 one of the bands she was in was Methyl Ethyl and the Ketones.  She was also part of The Hound Dog Band. They too are friends and great musicians that opened for John Mayall and others.

Enjoy a look at Amy and her band Methyl Ethyl and the Ketones at the UWM Student Union.

Joe Roe=Keyboards

John Billings=Pedal Steel and guitar

Brian Perotti=Drums

Todd Galanter=Bass

Mark Kapou=Vocals and percussion

The last photo )fairly bad photo) is from the Hound Dog Band days, Amy with Fred Bliffert and Mark Saicheck.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Michel Jourdain Jr. in 2003 at the Milwaukee Mile where he won and Road America.

March 9, 2026

I am taking a look back at Michel Joudain Jr. racing in Champ Car in 2003.

Michel started racing in the Mexican Formula Junior series at 12 years old and in 1996 started in the IRL racing series. From 1997 to 2004 he was racing in Champ Car with 2 wins in 2003 for Team Rahal at Milwaukee and Montreal.

The Milwaukee Mile 2003 race was a night race and cold! I remember putting on a heavy coat, hat and gloves to shoot a few photos from the spotters stand on the roof of the main grandstand. 

It was a big weekend at the Milwaukee Mile for the Centennial 250 race on the tracks 100th anniversary of auto racing.

It was also a big weekend for me because I got a photo job with Fittipaldi Dingman racing and their driver Tiago Monteiro for Milwaukee and Road America. Still waiting to get paid for that and so is most of the racing team crew.

Michel Jourdain Jr. had a great race and his first win in the series at Milwaukee. 

A few photos here are from Milwaukee and Road America where it was a mess of weather in 2003 with a lot of rain delays.  I remember the race finishing finally at about 7 or 8pm.

He raced in NASCAR, WTCC, A1GP, Craftsman Truck Series and he now is still in the Super Copa GTM Series in Mexico for Andretti Jourdain Autosport where he was champion in 2020.

He's a nice racer and still racing in anything he can even having done the Baja 1000 in 2003 finishing sixth.

He placed second overall in a 1953 Studebaker in the La Carrera Panamericana in 2010.

Enjoy a look at some photos from Milwaukee and Road America in 2003.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 23, 2026

This coming weekend is the beginning of the 2026 Indy Car season with the Firestone St. Petersburg Grand Prix on February 27 through March 1.

There is a major team change with Will Power moving over to Team Andretti after years at Team Penske. Mick Schumacher is coming over to race with Rahal Letterman Racing which should be very interesting too.

Alex Palou and Scott Dixon are staying in their familiar liveried cars and will keep Chip Ganassi Racing on top for sure.

Joseph Newgarden and Patricio O'Ward will be hot on everyone's tail and look fast.

So pick you driver and get ready for a new season of great racing.

Enjoy a look at the cars at Road American last year. 

Hoping that my cancer saga will be a lot better by the time they get to Road America this year.  It just drains me of energy. It has been almost 3 years but on February 18th my neph tube was taken out. It was in for 18 months and used for chemotherapy. The rest of my chemotherapy sessions will be straight into the bladder.  With the tube out ,hopefully I won't get anynore urinary tract infections. 

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 9, 2026

Sir Scott Dixon has always been a favorite race car driver since his early days in 2001 at Pac West Racing in the CART Indy Car Racing Series.

In 2002 he switched to Chip Gannasi Racing as Pac West Racing (1998-2000) folded due to finances. Scott continues race with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Stefan Johansen was helping Scott during his first days in 1998 and continues as his manager helping him secure his ride at Chip Gannasi Racing in 2002.

Sir Scott or Dixie as a lot of people call him, has won in about all divisions of racing he has entered since 1998.

He is also the nicest and one of the most humble guys in the paddock. He is married to an Olympic runner, Emma. They have a nice little family of 3 kids.

The Rolex 24 hours at Daytona has been a favorite IMSA race of his for years. He has won it 3 times.

At the end of this coming Indy Car season he will be knighted in England for all he has done during his racing career, hence Sir Scott!

A good example is that he is donating $300,000. to a young Australian boy who swam a long distance to save his mother in the ocean. She drifted away paddle boarding.

That boy has a great future in swimming and Scott's donation will help his swimming career.

Here are some photos of Scott's racing career.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Felipe Nasr through the years.

January 26, 2026

This past weekend was the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for IMSA. It was the first race of the year.

I was hoping that Felipe Nasr and his Porsche Team Penske Motorsports team would win again like last year.  And they did for the third year in a row! Congratulations Felipe!

He started IMSA racing in 2018 with Action Express Racing/Whelen Engineering Racings Cadillac. Prior years were in Formula 1 for 3 years and GP2 and Formula 3 before that.

I first got to know Felipe when he raced with fellow Brazilian Pipo Derani in a Cadillac for Action Express Motorsports. He took a championship and a win at Road America in 2021.

In 2024 another championship with a great win at Road America again in the Porsche Penske Motorsports car.

My being an old BASS tournament fisherman and finding out that Felipe was an avid fisherman we've talked a bit through the years.

A photo of mine was in the Action Express Racing simulator room. So now I have to get one in the Porsche Penske Motorsports room. Work in progress there! I wish Felipe a lot of luck this year and in the future.

Enjoy some photos of Felipe through the years.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann