March 30, 2015

First of all, I must thank Larry Widen for helping me with last week's blog about Steve Miller. He helped me to get the year that the photos were taken all straightened out! The show that was pictured in last week's blog of Steve Miller with Leslie West at Summerfest was 1977. I wasn't sure, so I asked all of you for some feedback and thanks to Larry, who was at the show, it's all figured out now! Love feedback from you and please know that I read and respond to every comment.

This week's blog came about because of a photograph of mine that appeared on a Facebook page without my knowledge. I was like, I think that is my photo!! So, I got home, checked it out and it is my photo!

It is one of seven images of boat racer Tim Seebold, racing in the SST 140 class race during the St. Louis Grand Prix weekend in 1991. Tim Seebold and his family is probably the most famous family of boat racers. His father Bill, brother Mike, and grandfather Bill senior, all race boats.  They usually win every race they participate in!

So, in the race shown here, Tim Seebold didn't win. Going into the turn, Mark Miller driving the boat on the inside of the turn, trimmed down a little bit, then Tim did, and then Mark straightened out and ran under Tim's boat forcing it into the air. This lifted Tim's boat and then it just forced him up, up, up into the air!  It was amazing.

I watched it all in the viewfinder of my Nikon and just let the motordrive do it's job until it ran out of film! Remember film? Wow, do I wish this was a digital situation and I could have just kept on shooting. But back then, there were only 36 shots to a roll. I wish I could have gotten a few more photos of the landing of Tim's boat.

Well, Tim walked away from this but the boat didn't! It was broken up pretty good and I never did hear what happened to it after the accident. If anyone knows, let me know about the boat repair job and if it ever raced again.

One last interesting fact for you- in the last frame you can see a fellow photographer without his shirt on running away! He is the official Mercury Racing photographer and he got a few great shots of Tim coming directly at him before he ran away!

Have a great week.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Tim Seebold, getting a little air at the St. Louis Grand Prix on 8-11-1991.

December 29, 2014

This is our last blog of the year and I have to wish Happy Birthday to my racing friend Tony Kanaan! TK was born on December 31, 1974!! Puppy!

Just a simple blog today to wish TK the best birthday ever on New Years Eve and to wish him a safe and successful 2015.

Here is a little look back at TK in the year 2000 and 2014 in Milwaukee's Indy car races.

I also want to thank all of you for the business you have given me and Happy New Year everyone! My wish to you all for the New Year is much success in whatever you do!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Tony Kanaan in Milwaukee's IRL race in 2014.

Tony Kanaan, in Milwaukee's CART race in 2000.

December 1, 2015

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends!

I haven't done a blog about racing in a while.

During the Thanksgiving break here, I heard some interesting news. Graham Rahal became engaged to Courtney Force!!! Congrats to you both!

These are two racing families here. Graham is Bobby Rahal's son and Courtney is John Force's daughter.  Indy car driver marrying a Funny Car dragster driver could only make them both faster, right?

They are both 26 years old and have a lot of racing left in their lives. Both have very famous, successful fathers. It will be interesting to see if that helps either one.

Courtney, is just getting going but Graham has been racing for a long time and has won one race in the IRL series.

Here is a look at Graham from this past year at the Milwaukee Mile. I have photographed Graham throughout his whole racing career.

I will have to do another blog with all those photos of him racing in Toyota Atlantics, Champ Cars and the IRL series.

Have a nice week and if you need a nice Christmas present, all our photos are 10% off during the entire month of December!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

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

Will Power, 2014 IRL Champion!

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