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

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

March 25, 2024

So, was that an interesting Indy Car race at The Thermal Club with the Million Dollar Challenge?? Interesting but crushed for Pietro Fittipaldi with his team not giving him enough fuel!!! Congratulations to Alex Palou who now has some extra money for diapers and drinks he said!

This week we take a look back at the 2018 Road America Indy Car race and the Indy Lights racers. During these old times IMSA ran with Indy Car for a fun filled weekend.

Interesting to see the young Pato O'Ward, Aaron Telitz and Colton Herta back in their Indy Lights days. Pato and Colton are in Indy Car now doing well. Aaron Telitz is racing in IMSA doing well in Jimmy Vasser's, Vasser-Sullivan Lexus team.

There are a couple interesting photos of Colton Herta pushing it and spinning out in turn 5 during qualifying. Will Power had an interesting off the track move in turn 6 coming in a little too fast I believe, also during qualifying.

See if you can find the super hot glowing front brakes on Alexander Rossi's car towards the end of my photos here.

For 2017 Indy Car Champ Josef Newgarden, the 2018 race at Road America was great with winning the pole position and the race!

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second and Scott Dixon finished third.

Enjoy a look at some interesting young men and the days when Robert Wickens was still running Indy Car before his accident. Now he is back in IMSA racing and getting better every day.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 11, 2022

On the weekend of June 12, 2022, the Indy Cars came to race at Road America. The Sensio Road America Grand Prix was a spectacular race! For a while we figured it was going to take all day though.

Alexander Rossi won the pole position and Josef Newgarden won the race with a great pit stop that put him ahead of Alex for the win.

The first 10 laps or so had a bit of crazy driving. Jimmie Johnson went off course on the first lap in turn 3 which brought out the yellow flag.

Alex Palou had contact on lap 4 for another yellow flag and then Will Power had a wild accident in turn 5. Will Power got a little push by Devlin DeFrancesco that put him into the wall and was facing the wrong way with a broken nose on his car. He attempted to continue on right in front of me, but had to stop on track and get the nose removed.

Finally, at lap 10 we got going again for a great race.

In my photos, checkout the hot brakes on many of the cars. Then look at winner Josef Newgarden doing some really nice victory donuts with alot of smoke and perfectly shaped donuts! Those tires were done after that for sure but his "favorite race car" he said was fine to race again.

Had great weather and it was a fun time at Road America!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 7, 2022

The world is in a crazy place these days but the Indy Car season has begun!

It's great to see Scott McLaughlin win the first race of the year in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has a great future in Indy Car.

Last week was Mario Andretti's 82nd birthday and Sebastian Bourdais on the same day! Will Power's birthday was the following day. He had a strong showing in St. Petersburg. Will is trying to beat Mario Andretti for most pole positions with only one more to do it.

Here are a few photos of the Indy Cars through the years to get us in the mood for the season.

Good luck to all.  Last year's champ ,Alex Palou, has some competition this year. Colton Herta is my pick on his way to the championship!

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 12, 2021

Last week, I focused my blog on the Vintage Indy Reserve cars. This week, I'm showing you the Indy Cars that ran that same weekend at Road America.

Included in this blog are some Indy Lights, USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 race cars and drivers.

The Indy Cars are my favorite race cars of all. They never cease to amaze me with what the drivers can do with them! Takuma Sato is a wild driver and his car shows it as the race went on. It will need some bodywork!

After two days of practice and qualifying, it seemed Joseph Newgarden had things under control for the pole and the race. Well, he got the pole position and led a lot of the race but did not win.

Joseph really seemed to have it done until the last few laps when his gearbox had other ideas. Alex Palou won the race and Colton Herta was close behind in second. Will Power finished third followed by Scott Dixon and the Formula 1 racers Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean.

It was interesting to watch NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson trying to handle an Indy Car. It's going to take some time for him to get up to speed.

Not so for Formula 1 veterans Marcus Ericksson and Romain Grosjean. Romain really is fast and has adapted very well to Indy Car and is having fun being very competitive. Marcus and Romain will be winning soon I believe.

Check out the photos and enjoy the HOT brake photos taken near the end of the race. One actually looked like it was on fire! Unfortunately I missed that shot though..

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 3, 2021

It is the month of May and that means it's Indy Car time and the Indy 500 is coming up on May 30th!

Time to practice for the greatest spectacle in racing as they say. Most of the month is dedicated to practice and setup of the cars.

Indy Car has had two races so far and it's been interesting with both races. The young drivers are moving up and really stepping it up. Colton Herta won the St. Petersburg race and Scott Dixon, the old master, won the first race in Texas. Pato O'Ward won the second race!

Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O'Ward, Colton Herta and more are very aggressive and ready to pounce for a victory. Veteran driver Scott Dixon will be trying for another Indy 500 win and moving for his seventh championship as well.

Here we look back at Road America last year where it was a great battle between Felix and Pato lap after lap. During the final ten laps they were a few feet apart from each other with Felix taking the win!

Get ready for some action with the Indy 500 and for Road America Indy Car June 17th through June 20th! The Vintage Indy Car series will be joining the Indy Cars at Road America again which is very cool to see and to hear those old cars.

Very sad to learn we lost Uncle Bobby Unser last night... One of the greatest old school Indy Car drivers around and all around nice guy. RIP Uncle Bobby...

Enjoy a nice month!

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