September 23, 2024

My last blog was on the qualifying for the Milwaukee Mile Hy-Vee 250 races held August 31 and September 1. Today's blog is on the two races that weekend.  Conor Daly made the most passes EVER done at the Milwaukee Mile during a race even with 42 passes!

Pato O'Ward won the first race with Will Power and Conor Daly following behind. Ten more laps and I think Will Power would have caught Pato.

Scott McLaughlin won the second race with Scott Dixon and Colton Herta close behind.

It was fun, the weather was good and there were not too many accidents.

The crowd of 42,000+ enjoyed the nicely refurbished Milwaukee Mile which is still getting more improvements in the future thanks to the state of Wisconsin and Roger Penske Indy Car Corporation.

On a personal health update I will get a neph tube placed in my back going to my left kidney on Wednesday. Cancer cells are back and after the neph tube heals for a month I get 6 infusions of BCG. Hope this kicks it's ass and gets rid of it.

Racing season is done and cameras and lenses are getting cleaned so bring this treatment on!

Be well all and enjoy a look at the races a few weeks back.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

September 9, 2024

On Friday, August 30th I turned 70 and the Indy Cars came into town to the Milwaukee Mile where they haven't raced in years. Qualifying took place at my favorite race track and to me it's the best portrait session a photographer can get with the Indy Car racers because they go out 1 at a time.

This blog is just on the qualifying on Friday but two races were held August 31 and September 1 with the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s. The racing will be the next blog but enjoy the qualifying and a look at the tight confines of the present day Indy Car cockpit. It's a little different now with the nice air conditioning and blowers that they all have hooked up while waiting to get going.

The Indy NXT cars look a little different and notice Yuven Sundaramoorthys helmet with the Wisconsin Badgers football team theme. Very cool and he is from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Each Indy Car driver got 3 laps in qualifying with the second lap being your qualifying lap for race 1 and the third lap your qualifying lap for the second race.

Josef Newgarden won the pole position for race 1 and Scott McLaughlin for race 2.

It was a wonderful weekend of weather and 42,000+ in attendance at the Milwaukee Mile which makes for a very successful weekend!

Enjoy a look at qualifying. The two races will be the next blog coming up.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 26, 2024

On the weekend of August 4th the IMSA teams came to Road America for some great racing.

The race had the Felipe Albuquerqe and Ricky Taylor WTR Acura on pole position and the Team Penske Porsches were close by. Friend Pipo Derani and his Action Express Cadillac with Jack Aitken were right up there as always during the race. Notice the back of Pipo Derani's helmet with the new addition to the family footprints!

The Covettes had a tough race with one of them getting punted off in turn five by the new Mustang GT3 at the second start.

In the end the Team Penske Porches finished first with Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet and second with Filipe Nasr and Dane Cameron.

Beautiful race day with beautiful race cars.

Enjoy and I'll let the photos do the talking!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 12, 2024

This is Part 2 of my Indy Cars at Road America blog. The race was June 9, 2024 and it's been a busy summer.

Part 1 was on the Indy Cars in the rain qualifying on Saturday June 8, 2024.  I went through 2 pairs of shoes and I was soaked!

So here we look at the race after Linus Lundqvist got the pole position with qualifying on that Saturday in a  great session. Linus finished the race 12th and Will Power finally won a race again and congratulations to him. It's been a while for Will to get a win on a road course.

The race was a tight battle with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin coming in second and third. Team Penske had the top 3 positions so Captain Roger Penske had to be happy.

A bright spot in the weekend was Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick taking pole position and dominating their race for the win. Remember that name because she has a great future and is a really nice person. She is car #28 here in a few photos and Louis Foster in the #26 finished second.

Enjoy a look at a fun and exciting weekend.

On a personal note I have mentioned before that I have stage 2 bladder cancer and today is another big day with another blue light cystoscopy procedure to try to figure out where the cancer cells are coming from. Keep me in your thoughts today.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 15, 2024

The annual Road America visit for Indy Car this past year was a memorable one with rookie Linus Lundqvist grabbing the pole position for the first of his career!

This blog is just part 1 of a few blogs to come on the Indy Car drivers as it was an amazing weekend of rain and fun.

Saturday, June 8th was qualifying day and it did not disappoint. The rain made it very exciting.

The rookie drivers were showing up strong but the final six drivers going for the pole position in the Firestone Fast 6 qualifying session came down to the following drivers who then qualified in this order.

Linus Lundqvist

Colton Herta

Marcus Armstrong

Kyle Kirkwood

Will Power

Josef Newgarden

It was a bad day for my man Scott Dixon qualifying 10th as was the race the next day where he finished 21st.

Will Power won the race and that was long overdue for him on Sunday.

Here are some qualifying photos and be sure to look how the Indy Car rain tires move that rain!!  Also I got a few glowing brake photos here.

Race photos coming up in the next blog.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Vintage Indy Registry cars running at Road America June 8, 2024 during Indy Car weekend.

July 1, 2024

During the Indy Car weekend at Road America, the Vintage Indy Registry cars come along and run some track sessions.

It's always fun to see these beautiful cars that don't get enough track time unfortunately. They usually run the first and last session of the day so a lot of fans miss seeing them on track but they are on display all day to look at.

It's good to learn the history of our sport and learn about the beautiful sounds they make. The woosh of the Lotus STP turbine car is something to hear as it is hot exhaust from kerosene that it is using for fuel. Makes for an interesting photo if caught right and I've got a couple here..

Al Unser Jr. was our usual pace car driver but in a beautiful orange Corvette this year rather than the usual Mini Cooper S.

Enjoy a look at the cars during one of the few dry sessions of the weekend. They won't run in the rain because it would be a lot of work to dry these old cars out. I even went through two pairs of shoes and got soaked!!

Next blog will be the present day Indy Cars running in the rain during this race weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

A nice Indy Car and Indy NXT testing day at the Milwaukee Mile June 11th and 12th.

June 17, 2024

I've been a busy photographer since the Indy 500 and I'm trying to catch up here.

I've been doing a lot of editing and shooting Indy Cars at Road America with Vintage Indy Reserve which was followed by a test of Indy Car at the Milwaukee Mile the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'm going do the Indy Car test blog first because it's the least amount of photos taken!

Tuesday June 11, 2024 was a great day for running Indy Cars, especially in the morning.

We had about a 30 minute delay because they worked on the fence to make it perfect. The track with all it's improvements is really looking great.

So I'm standing next to driver Will Power watching the repairs going on across from his car in pit lane. We had a nice chat for about 10 minutes about his race win at Road America a few days earlier and the new hybrid power unit.

The new power unit brings Honda, Chevrolet and Ilmor together making parts to bring 120 plus extra horsepower with hybrid assist and push to pass combined horsepower.  It will be the first time in over 20 years with more than 800hp.

The car is also around 20 pounds heavier which Will wasn't too happy about it seemed.

With myself being a music photographer since 1971, we got talking about music since Will is also a drummer. I'm 69 years old and he said that I've photographed the good music days but he didn't know who guitarist Jeff Beck is!  I'm working on that education with him!

They had a great test with David Mulukas being the fastest of Indy Cars and Louis Foster the fastest in Indy NXT.  It was a test to learn the new engines and to become familiar with the track that Indy Cars haven't been to since 2015.

Enjoy a look at the cars and come join us on my 70th birthday weekend August 30th through September 1. There will be two races-  one on Saturday August 31 and the other Sunday September 1.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann