October 21, 2024

Here is a look at some great old days of Indy Car racing when Champ Car AND the IRL both existed.  It was called "The Split" and friend Paul Zimmermann has written a good book on the whole mess. It was a mess that almost killed Indy Car. Thank you Tony George for almost destroying Indy Car racing.

The Time Warner Cable Road Runner 225 was the Champ Car race at the Milwaukee Mile on June 4, 2006 with Sebastien Bourdais in the pole position and winning the race. The late Justin Wilson took second and Nelson Philippe third.

Got to be friends with French driver Nelson Philippe who had a very sore neck during practice. I had some Bio Freeze in my truck that I use and I gave it to him to help calm his neck pain down a bit. It did, and he gave me his helmet visor for being nice!

Alexander Tagliani destroyed his car in practice right in front of me in turn 4 and was very lucky that he didn't get hurt at all. Alex was Will Power's teammate that year for Derrick Walker and Aussie Vineyards racing.

The Champ Car was a beautiful looking car and the Aussie Vineyards and McDonalds liveries are beautiful. Really a lot better looking than the IRL race car and faster I believe.

Justin Wilson led 61 laps, Katherine Legge 12 laps and A.J. Allmendinger led 7 laps.

Enjoy a look at some pretty cars and a mangled wreck of Alex Tagliani's car.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

February 12, 2024

I keep finding photos of races that I don't have in my website at www.richzimmermann.com. Here is one of those missing races that I've scanned in now.

It is the Road Runner 225 Champ Car race held on June 3, 2005 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Jimmy Vasser would get the last pole position of his career and I have his helmet visor from the pole winning run!

Paul Tracy won the race and led most of the laps of the day with his beautiful Forsythe Racing Champ Car.

I spent a lot of time with the Mi-Jack racing team with drivers Andrew Ranger from Canada and Nelson Philippe from France.

Andrew had a lot of promise as did Nelson but they finished the race 16th and 12th respectively. Andrew would continue racing after one more year of Champ Car then back to racing in Canada.

Nelson Philippe had a heavy shunt during a practice session and was just very sore. I shared my Bio Freeze with him!  I always carry it with me and use for my sore neck and back. Got his helmet visor for that. He's a very nice guy.

Oriol Servia was racing for injured Bruno Junquiera and finished third with future star A. J. Almendinger finishing second.

Great late racer and friend Justin Wilson finished fourth. Justin was one of the nicest guys in pit lane.  He always had time for a chat.

Sebastien Bourdais won the championship in 2004 and would win it again in 2005 but only finished sixth here. Love the photo of Carl Haas giving Sebastien a thumbs up before the race and hugging the nose of Oriol Servia's car as he always did with his cars.

Enjoy a look at that weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 4, 2022

In 2007 the Indy Car racing world was very divided. We had the Indy Racing League (IRL), formed by Tony George in 2003 with his Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the helm.  We also had the Champ Car World Series.

From 2003 through 2007 we had the IRL and Champ Car as two separate series. It was a mess and mistake by Tony George that Indy Car is just now recovering from. In 2008 it became one series again called Indy Car as it still is today.

I was photographing the IRL at the Milwaukee Mile and the Champ Cars at Road America each year for four years.

On August 12, 2007, the Generac Champ Car Grand Prix at Road America was held. Race driver Sebastien Bourdais won the race and end up winning his fourth straight championship at the end of the year. Seabass, as we call him, was fast everywhere then and still is now.

Dan Clarke finished second and a very young Graham Rahal finished third.

All of the Champ Car race cars were beautiful and fast looking with great paint jobs.

Enjoy a look at the guys and a young Katherine Legge racing around beautiful Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The Champ Car and IMSA series at Road America in 2007.

January 24, 2022

This week we look back at the great days of Indy Car racing with the CART race at Road America in 2002. It was a late season race on August 18, 2002.

These were the days of beautiful cars with big horsepower. Cristiano da Matta won the race with Alex Tagliani finishing second and Bruno Junquiera third. Cristiano da Matta would win the championship that year!

Tony Kanaan started last and finished fourth!!!

Notice a photo of Wilson Fittipaldi watching his son Christian at work. Also, notice a picture of me next to Adrian Fernandez's Indy Car sponsored by Tecate!! Beautiful race car livery!

I'm letting the photos do the talking this week.

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

December 27, 2021

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Let's hope that the coming new year is a good one.

On May 31-June 2, 2002, the Milwaukee Mile hosted the Miller Lite 250 for the CART Indy Car series. This was at the time when Tony George was trying to take over the series and started the Indy Racing League (IRL). We are still trying to recover from that mess!

The field of cars was down to 19 for this race thanks to the IRL taking a lot of teams over to their side of the fence.

The race was still a good one with Adrian Fernandez on pole position and Paul Tacy winning. Adrian Fernandez finished second and Max Papis third.

This was also the first year of the new grandstands at the Milwaukee Mile.

Today, the grandstands are still there but they actually have tried selling them through the years! Thankfully, that never happened but motor racing has really declined at the Milwaukee Mile.  It's the oldest race track in the country. Traditionally, the race at the Milwaukee Mile was the first weekend after the Indy 500.

Take a peak at the old days of 2002. Those were some great racing cars. There's nothing like the smell of methanol fuel!

Talk to you next year and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 13, 2016

It is Sunday June 12 as I write this and the tragedy in Orlando is all over the news. Terrible, sad, and what a crazy world we live in these days...

So, let's look at some good days in 2001 at Road America again. I have so many images from that weekend and I am sharing today some of my favorite photos of a young Helio Castoneves and more, of course.

Bryan Herta, Max Papis and Alex Zanardi were racing with Helio and a lot of other good racers!

Looking at the high technology steering wheel with the map of the track on it is interesting.

Enjoy a look back and next week I will share some more pictures from that weekend as we get ready for the Indy cars coming soon to Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 6, 2016

The Indy cars are coming to Elkhart Lake's Road America in a few weeks. So I thought it would be good to look at some of the great days at Road America in 2001.

Here are photos of the CART days back then with some of the drivers of the day. Gil DeFerran and Helio CastroNeves were with Penske Racing at that time. The pictures of

Alex Zanardi were before he was with Target and Chip Ganassi Racing.  You will also see here pictures of Michael Andretti, Max Papis, Kenny Brack, Bruno Janquiera, Christiano DeMatta, Memo Gidley, Alex Tagliani and more.

The last photo is of Christian Fittipaldi and his front brake rotors on fire! That was a result from hard braking in turn five.

Enjoy a look at these and I'll have some more next 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

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