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

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

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

August 31, 2020

The Indianapolis 500 was a bit different this year because there were no fans and it was not held in the month of May. August 23, 2020 was the day of the great race with Marco Andretti securing the pole position!!

It became a unique race with Marco Andretti on the pole and Mario and Michael Andretti leading him to the green flag in the two seat Indy Car. Sadly, Marco didn't lead a lap, I believe.

Scott Dixon dominated the day except for the last 33 laps when Takuma Sato took the lead. Takuma is now a second time Indy 500 winner.

Congratulations to Takuma and teammate Graham Rahal who finished third. Great day for Bobby Rahal and his team that owns both cars!

I was really pulling for Marco, and then Scott Dixon if Marco couldn't get it done. Rinus Veekay was a rookie I was pulling for also. He survived a scary accident during the race with Spencer Pigot.

You just never know who will win in the end.  That's racing!

Very disappointed at how NBC handled the television coverage for the great race cutting it short.

On another note, I turned 66 years old on August 30th!! Been retired for a year now and busy as can be!

Next project among others is a book on my father Carl Zimmermann! Been working on it for a while and it's a ton of work with lots to do yet.

Enjoy a look at the Indy 500 leaders.  These pictures were taken almost two months ago at Road America.

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

June 24, 2019

What a fun and busy weekend with Indy Cars at Road America! I even ended up on the radio at 105.7fm, The Final Inspection show on Saturday!! Check it out at radio.com in the "on demand" section.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi were the stories of the weekend. Colton at 19 years old won the pole position for the Indy Car race!

For the race, Colton only led the first three turns and then it was Alexander Rossi all day to win the race!

I let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

June 3, 2019

Finally it feels like summer today!! We have had crazy weather everywhere around the U.S. it seems. I will mow the grass for the third time this week and try to get our rain soaked grass back to normal and pretty.

Also, it seems like summer because we have some great Indy Car racing going on. The Indy 500 this year was one of the best in a long time other than all the commercials that is. I watched the whole race and most of the F1 Monaco race. Indy was by far much better racing!

The Indy Car guys had a good Race 1 in Belle Isle Saturday and the Sunday race 2 I'm about to watch. I think we have some of the best Indy Car racing going on in a long time. The crowd counts are up and television viewing is also up.

Nascar, that other series, is going further down every race with fewer fans and a bad show. They just don't get it on how to do a race weekend! It confuses me trying to follow it!

In a few weeks we have Indy Car coming back to Road America where last year we broke crowd records and it was an awesome weekend of racing.

Come on up and have a brat and a beer and watch the guys race at the best race track in the world!! That's my opinion but a lot of racers agree and compare it to Spa in Europe.

Here is a little look at last year's race as we get the cameras ready for Road America!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Here in Wisconsin, snow is on the ground and it's going to be 6F tomorrow with a crazy windchill!! We should be seeing daffodils and rabbits outside instead of snow, ice and cold.

On February 28th, two of my favorite race car drivers celebrated their birthdays. Mario Andretti turned 79 and still drives the two seat Indy Car. I still want a ride in that car Mario! Sebastien Bourdais turned 40 on the same day!

On March 10th, the Indy Cars have the first race of the season in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sebastien Bourdais has lived in St. Petersburg for a few years and won that race twice I believe.

To get ready for the season let's take a look back at the birthday boys and some of the Indy Cars.

Last year Scott Dixon won the championship and I think he could do it again! Good luck Scott!

Stay warm and get ready to hear the awesome sounds of Indy Car again!

See how many drivers you can recognize here.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann