Graham Rahal, racing in the IRL series, at the Milwaukee Mile in 2015.
September 1, 2014
First, thank you to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday on Saturday, August 30th when I turned 60!!! That was a big one and a great day thanks to all of you and my wife Claudia.
So, life goes on and we have a new IRL champ after the race last night in Fontana, California.
I was pulling for Helio Castroneves to win the championship. He has not won one yet and he has been trying for many years to become the IRL champion.
Helio, did not become the IRL champion, but one of his teammate's with team Penske, Will Power, did. Congratulations to Will. He too has been trying for many years to get the championship.
Here we look at some photographs of Will Power that I took in 2007, 2008 and 2014.
Enjoy and have a great 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
Juan Pablo Montoya, racing in CART at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America in 1999 and 2000.
March 31, 2014
To all of my rock'n'roll friends, we need to take a break from my rock blogs please! The Indy car season starts today as I am writing this blog on Sunday afternoon!
Juan Pablo Montoya, raced Indy cars a while back when the cars looked and sounded a lot better.
In the attached photos you will see that he was driving for Target and Chip Ganassi Racing in 1999 and 2000. He won the championship, many races and the Indy 500. Then he went to Formula 1. After that, he came back to the States and tried Nascar. He didn't do as well as he did in an open wheel car.
Thankfully, he has come back to Indy cars and team Penske, which is Target Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing's rival! He is older, wiser and a married man with kids now.
I wish him the best of luck. He will help to make the season exciting!
Time for me to go watch the race and I hope Juan Pablo does well.
Please join me on Facebook at Rich Zimmermann Photography to keep in touch with some nice rock'n'roll and racing photography.
Have a great week.
Rich Zimmermann
December 23, 2013
Recently, Dario Franchitti announced that he was retiring from racing Indy cars. This was a sad day for us Dario Franchitti fans who have watched him race since he came to the United States in 1997.
Dario, won the Indy 500 in 2007, 2010 and 2012. He won the IRL championship in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The injuries Dario sustained in the crash in Houston this past year have forced him to retire from driving Indy cars. Luckily, he is still with us because if you saw that crash, it is amazing he survived.
I have spent most of my Saturday morning here going through photos of Dario from 1997 to 2013, so we have a lot of photographs today! These are just from my digital collection and do not include any of my film from Dario's CART days! Sometime soon, I will scan those photos and do another blog on Dario.
One of my other favorite racers that I got to know a little bit was Greg Moore who was one of Dario's best friends. Dario has a Greg Moore helmet sticker on the back of his helmet in memory of our friend who we lost in 1999. A while back, I did a blog on Greg and Dario sent me a little note saying that he liked it.
Dario is one of the good guys and has always been real nice to me. Thanks Dario and I wish you the best in your retirement days. I feel that I have not seen the last of you and I think you will still be strolling along pit lane at the track with our friends!
Enjoy the photos folks and have a great holiday with your families!
Please join me on Facebook at Rich Zimmermann Photography and Merry Christmas! Let it snow, let it snow and let it snow some more!!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
October 28, 2013
I have not done a racing blog in a while. It's time for me to congratulate Scott Dixon, our new 2013 IRL Series Champion!
Scott has always been one of the nicest and most humble guys in pit lane.
He won the Indy 500 in 2008 from the pole position and won the IRL championship in 2003 and 2008 with Target and Chip Ganassi Racing.
Here are some photos from 2007 to this past year at the Milwaukee Mile.
Enjoy and congratulations Scott!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
August 5, 2013
This week we all heard that Alex Tagliani is no longer driving an Indy car. Bryan Herta's team switched drivers and Tag is out.
Too bad, because Tag is a great driver. He is always happy and talks good about the sport. He talks to everyone he can in the paddock it seems. A lot of other drivers don't do as much as Tag does to promote the sport.
He has only won one race in his Indy car career. That was at Elkhart Lake in 2004 in a Champ Car, but I have always thought he had another victory in him.
He will be missed by a lot of fans.
Photographs today are from this year at the Milwaukee Mile and one from 2011.
Time for me to go watch the race at Mid Ohio now. Unfortunately, without Tag.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
