December 16, 2024

Since June of 2023 our lives have here been a bit messy here with surgeries and non medical fun for my wife and me. A big Monday and Tuesday here this week but I hope and pray that we are on the right path now.

December 29th last year was really a bad day as all of us lost a great race car driver at just 56 and I think about him a lot. Gil de Ferran was a special racer and a prankster. Gil passed away last year of a heart attack on the Concours Race Track in Opa-locka.  Very sad day and he was having fun with his son that day at the track.

I did not know him very well but had some fun with him at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America.

So I feel the need to look and remember our friend as it's so close to a year that he has been gone.

Gil gave Team Penske it's 100th win and consecutive CART championships in 2000 and 2001.

The Milwaukee Mile put my photo of Gil in the Media Center at the Milwaukee Mile. It's also in one of the suites in the grandstand. It's a picture of Gil sitiing in his car giving a thumbs up. The photo was from 2001 and I've cherished it for a long time in my race room here.

In 2000 Team Penske almost had Gil de Ferran and future superstar Greg Moore who we lost in 1999 as teammates. Who knows what could have happened with Greg Moore and Gil together. Gil would have mentored Greg for sure but without Greg we got Helio Castroneves and Gil mentored Helio very well into the Spiderman!

Enjoy some photos of Gil through the years.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 18, 2024

Been some tough weeks around here lately with my bladder cancer BCG infusion therapy going on now. BCG is a vaccine for tuberculosis that they learned kills cancer cells. Just had the third of six infusions last Friday.

It's a once a week deal and the first week was bad. Second week I developed a urinary tract infection and ended up in the hospital overnight getting big gun antibiotics that worked!

Third week and third infusion and I feel good!  Weird, but happy and lets see what the next three hold and hopefully the infusions work... Now I can get back to being retired with my wonderful wife and doctor here. Could not have done this without her!

This is a Part 1 of the Indy Racing League at the Milwaukee Mile in 2005 for the ABC Supply Company 225 race. Part 2 in a couple weeks will have more photos and history of the race.  In between my cancer treatments I'll get'er done!

The race in 2005 was won by Sam Hornish Jr., Dario Franchitti was second and Tomas Scheckter in P3.

The IRL came to town here and this was during the Indy Car split. Because of that we had Champ Car and the IRL at the Milwaukee Mile in the same summer with different dates. Great, but expensive for fans and busy for this photographer.

How good is your Indy Car knowledge because there are two cars in here that are Champ Cars! Must have been the beginning of the first roll of film that was left over from Champ Car.

Enjoy Part 1 and be well.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

November 4, 2024

During the famous split of Indy Car we had Champ Car and the Indy Racing League both at the Milwaukee Mile in 2006. This is the IRL at the Milwaukee Mile on July 23, 2006 where Helio Castroneves won the pole position but was out of the race quickly in an accident.

Tony Kanaan won the race with Sam Hornish Jr. second and Tomas Schecter third. Young Danica Patrick finished fourth which was a good run for her.

The cars to my eye just were not as good looking as a Champ Car and didn't sound as good. Not as fast as a Champ Car either, I believe.

Take a look at the cars and see if you like them better than the Champ Cars in my last blog.

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

April 18, 2022

On June 3, 2007 the Indy Racing League came to the Milwaukee Mile for the ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225 Race.

The Milwaukee race was run traditionally one week after the Indy 500.  Miss that race a lot.  Bring it back please Roger Penske now that you have control and own the Indy Car series.

Helio had the pole for this race but his rear wing broke during the race right in front of me!  He was done for the day and Sam Hornish had a similar situation and was out of the race a few laps later. Tony Kanaan won it with Dario Franchitti in second. Dan Wheldon finished third.

Danica and Dan Wheldon had a little track incident that had Danica steaming down to Dan Wheldon's pit after the race. They weren't friends anymore and fists almost came out!! Great seeing photos of Dan Wheldon again.  Fun guy that I traded some photos with for his helmet visor that year.  I also have Danica's visors in a photo trade I did every year she was in Indy Cars! I also have a Toyota Atlantic visor of hers from the early days.

Victory Lane was dedicated with a plaque now calling it the A.J. Foyt Victory Lane.  A.J. Foyt loved it and he received a Packers Jersey from A.J. Hawk!

Enjoy a look at the Milwaukee Mile and some great racers.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Sunday June 3, 2007 the Indy Racing League raced the ABC Supply A.j. Foyt 225!

June 14, 2021

Congratulations to Helio Castroneves, aka Spider Man, for his fourth Indy 500 victory!!

We call Helio Spider Man because after he wins a race, he gets out of his car and climbs the track fence! He cheers with the fans and goes wild. His crew even joins him! It's fun to see his excitement and amazing enthusiasm.

I've photographed and known Helio since his Indy Lights racing days.

In 1998, Helio was in the CART Indy Car series with Hogan Racing. He was a great qualifier but never got the win with them. One of the photos here shows him coming into pit lane after qualifying on the pole position and breaking the track record at the Milwaukee Mile in 1998! It is the photo with his fist in the air.

The year 2000 brought Helio to Team Penske. That seat was to go to racer Greg Moore but he unfortunately passed away in an accident during a race in California in 1999. Who knows how far Greg Moore could have gone, but I think Greg would have won multiple Indy 500's and championships. Sadly, Greg was gone, but now Helio was on his way to a great career with Team Penske.

Helio started in CART and has raced in the IRL and Indy Car for Team Penske.

The past few years Helio has been racing in the IMSA series for Team Penske in an Acura NSX. Last year at the Road America IMSA race ,in pouring rain like I have NEVER seen during a race, he won despite two red flags. It was an amazing victory!

While in IMSA racing, he would still do the Indy 500 for Team Penske. That is until this year when he raced the Indy 500 for Meyer Shank racing in the SiriusXM car. He won and climbed the fence at Indianapolis!!! Spider Man is back!!

Winning the Indy 500 four times has allowed Helio to join a very exclusive club of racers, Rick Mears, Al Unser and AJ Foyt.  He said that he is not done with his Indy Car career just yet!

Enjoy a look at these photos of Helio through the years. He is a family favorite. We have a pair of his gloves and a helmet visor of his.  They look great in our race room!

My next blog will be on the Indy Cars and the Vintage Indy Cars at Road America which is coming up soon!!! Come join us on Father's Day weekend June 18, 19 and 20 at Road America!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 17, 2020

IMSA racing at Road America is such a fun time.  This year we had rain coming down so hard at times. It was just crazy!!  I've photographed in the rain before but nothing like this.

The race was red flagged I think twice because of the downpours.  My favorite photo might be of corner worker Nate Kosak.  He was waving the red flag in turn five with the Whelen Cadillac. The Cadillac had a broken nose and there was one other accident that was enough to call for a red flag to stop the race for a bit.  Cars were flying everywhere and hydroplaning if they could see at all because of the rain.

In between the rain storms I had a chance to run to my Acura and drive it from turn five to turn eight. The good thing about both of these turns is they have little platforms with a wooden roof to hide in from the rain! I actually was fairly dry other than my tennis shoes! I wrapped the Sony camera in a towel to shoot through and it worked out well.

There are a ton a photographs to look at here.

Crazy race on Sunday! Congratulations to Helio Castroneves who got the win! He deserved it for leading most of the day and really being chased by the Mazda team and a couple of Cadillacs.

The Corvettes had a great race finishing one and two with a pass of the BMW in the rain!! Love the side by side in the rain Corvette photo!!

Aaron Telitz our Wisconsin guy put his Lexus on pole but the crazy day had him finish third. Next time Aaron!!

Enjoy some wet and dry photos of a wild weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

IMSA having fun in the wet and dry at Road America!  I've never gotten sooooo wet at a race but it makes for great photos!!

July 18, 2016

Finally catching up with editing the photographs that I took on Saturday of the Indy car weekend at Road America! On that Saturday I only took 739 photos, so there are just a few to edit.

I don't want you all to see the bad stuff, and yes I shoot bad ones. So I go through every shot and check them out and get rid of the bad ones.

What you see here are just a few that I like and find interesting.

Marco Andretti's shoes are interesting in that you will see his initials sewn into them.

Helio, Graham Rahal and a few guys bouncing over the bumps in Canada Corner is something to witness, not just to see, but to hear their cars going over the bumps, because they come into the corner a little too fast. It's something! It also must hurt the bum bouncing on them like that! They are just inches off the ground and there is not much padding for the driver in his seat.

I have also included a couple photos of Zak Veach and James French from the Indy Lights cars that raced that weekend too. Zak has won just about everything this year and was on the pole. James French is our local boy from Sheboygan who usually races in an IMSA car but did the Indy Lights as a substitute driver for the weekend.  It was a different environment for him. He is young and going to be good. Wish our local boy all the best in the future!

Enjoy a look from the roof of the media center by the start/finish line. It's a very cool view and you can see into the cars a bit.

Have a good week and please join me on Facebook if you haven't for more fun photos!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann