May 4, 2020

Being ordered to stay at home because of the COVID-19 virus, we are all starving for some real racing, at least I am!  The iRacing events with drivers using simulators in their homes is interesting,  but it just won't do.

Both the Indy 500 and the Kentucky Derby have been postponed this year. That has not happened since WW2. I suspect we will all remember this time period for the rest of our lives. The children will most likely remember the home schooling on personal computers.

For a blog this week, let's look at Arie Luyendyk through the years. I don't have photos of Arie during his IRL days here because my IRL files are buried in the closet and in time I will put them on my website. Here though are some good examples of Arie and his early days in CART and Indy Car.

At the time these photos were taken, I was a contributing photographer for Indy Car Racing Magazine. The magazine office was less than a mile away from the Milwaukee Mile track. The photos are from the Milwaukee Mile and Road America. See if you can figure out the year of each car for fun!

I like the style of these cars so much more than our present day Indy Cars. For sure they were not as safe as the current cars but wow, they were fast and good looking race cars!

Stay safe everyone and let's hope we have Indy Car back in action at Road America in June, with social distancing of course.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

September 23, 2019

I have been retired now for 20 days and I'm tired!!!  I have been catching up on chores I've wanted to do and have a ton more to do. I'm not complaining though!

Yesterday was the final race of the Indy Car season and it was an awesome race!

Colton Herta at 19 years old won the race from pole position and Joseph Newgarden won the championship! Personally, I was pulling for Scott Dixon for the race win and championship but it was not meant to be. Scott's previous two races with mechanical issues really put him out of the championship hunt. He tried very hard though starting and finishing yesterday's race in second place.

Here are a few photos of the guys from Road America this year and now we have to wait a whole year before we see them race again!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 22, 2019

Wow, summer is here and it's HOT and I'm soooooo busy!!! Lot's going on these days in the photo world of mine! That's a good thing I guess. It's fun and I do enjoy it.

Here are some photos of the Millers at Milwaukee event at the Milwaukee Mile last Friday and Saturday.The Millers, by the way, are vintage Indy Cars that dominated championship racing in the 1920' and 1930's. Saturday night I photographed Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo at Gathering on the Green.

Enjoy a look at last weekend. Sorry that I can't share the Pat Benatar photos, but you get to see a shot of me at work!

Thanks,

Rich

June 24, 2019

What a fun and busy weekend with Indy Cars at Road America! I even ended up on the radio at 105.7fm, The Final Inspection show on Saturday!! Check it out at radio.com in the "on demand" section.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi were the stories of the weekend. Colton at 19 years old won the pole position for the Indy Car race!

For the race, Colton only led the first three turns and then it was Alexander Rossi all day to win the race!

I let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 3, 2019

Finally it feels like summer today!! We have had crazy weather everywhere around the U.S. it seems. I will mow the grass for the third time this week and try to get our rain soaked grass back to normal and pretty.

Also, it seems like summer because we have some great Indy Car racing going on. The Indy 500 this year was one of the best in a long time other than all the commercials that is. I watched the whole race and most of the F1 Monaco race. Indy was by far much better racing!

The Indy Car guys had a good Race 1 in Belle Isle Saturday and the Sunday race 2 I'm about to watch. I think we have some of the best Indy Car racing going on in a long time. The crowd counts are up and television viewing is also up.

Nascar, that other series, is going further down every race with fewer fans and a bad show. They just don't get it on how to do a race weekend! It confuses me trying to follow it!

In a few weeks we have Indy Car coming back to Road America where last year we broke crowd records and it was an awesome weekend of racing.

Come on up and have a brat and a beer and watch the guys race at the best race track in the world!! That's my opinion but a lot of racers agree and compare it to Spa in Europe.

Here is a little look at last year's race as we get the cameras ready for Road America!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Here in Wisconsin, snow is on the ground and it's going to be 6F tomorrow with a crazy windchill!! We should be seeing daffodils and rabbits outside instead of snow, ice and cold.

On February 28th, two of my favorite race car drivers celebrated their birthdays. Mario Andretti turned 79 and still drives the two seat Indy Car. I still want a ride in that car Mario! Sebastien Bourdais turned 40 on the same day!

On March 10th, the Indy Cars have the first race of the season in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sebastien Bourdais has lived in St. Petersburg for a few years and won that race twice I believe.

To get ready for the season let's take a look back at the birthday boys and some of the Indy Cars.

Last year Scott Dixon won the championship and I think he could do it again! Good luck Scott!

Stay warm and get ready to hear the awesome sounds of Indy Car again!

See how many drivers you can recognize here.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 6, 2018

This is part three of my blogs on the Indy Car weekend at Road America. We look at images from Sunday here and mostly of the race.

It's amazing how hard these guys drive and how beautiful cars are. They have got to be true athletes to drive these cars the way that they do.

I also have a few images of the victory celebration from the Sunday morning Indy Lights race.

Enjoy some photos of a fun weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 23, 2018

Here is a look at the Indy Cars at Road America on Saturday, June 23 a few weeks back.

Bryan Herta had a great weekend winning one of the Indy Lights races on Saturday. A few photos here show him making donuts while celebrating in turn five!

Will Power is shown really pushing it during qualifying and going off track. He qualified P1 though.

Enjoy a look at some beautiful cars. Love the new body/aero kit on the Indy Cars.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 9, 2018

Wow!!! Blog #300! I guess I've been doing this for a while!

I really enjoy sharing my work with everyone. It is a passion.  I love to photograph racing and music. I have been doing it since 1971.

Indy Car weekend at Road America was 3 full days of fun, sun and photos.

This blog is about Friday 6-22-2018 and I will do blogs coming up of Saturday and Sunday.

The Final Inspection Show 105.7FM that I work with, taped the radio show on Friday.

We interviewed Mario Andretti, Matt Villander, fresh from his LeMans win, Graham Rahal and the top engineer of Bridgestone Racing Tires.

My heart goes out to Mario Andretti who lost his wife, Dee Ann, a week later.  They were married for 57 years!

Enjoy a look at some legends and some great cars on a cool, cloudy Friday at Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Indy Cars at Road America on Friday June 22, 2018.