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

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