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

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!

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

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

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

June 27, 2016

It was fun this past weekend with Indy cars back at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Not enough time to go into everything and edit a million photos today though.

So here are a few photos from Sunday, with our race winner Will Power and my new friend, Indy Lights driver, James French.

Enjoy, and more coming soon.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 29, 2016

Wow!! Now that was a good race today my friends! The 100th running of the Indy 500 did not disappoint me at all.  It was full of drama and highs and lows just like it should be.

I really wanted James Hinchcliffe to win because of all that he has gone through with his injury last year almost bleeding out and dying. Then he gets pole position this year. That would have made a great story.

My number two pick was Helio Castroneves to win again and climb the fence like he does. He is always fun and a great racer.

My number three pick was Juan Pablo Montoya who won last year and is an amazing racer.

I have photos of all these guys and I was ready for my blog work but no, we have a big surprise winner! It is American racer Alexander Rossi who has been in Europe racing. He ran a great race!

His team owner is Brian Herta who did the same thing with Dan Wheldon in 2011, took a long shot and won it!

We lost Dan Wheldon to a bad accident in Las Vegas a few years back... so my blog has photos of Dan today in his memory since I don't have any of Alexander Rossi, not many people do unless you have been in Europe!

The photos are from 2005, 2007, and 2008. One is of Dan and Tony Kanaan, a teammate who had a great race today. Another photo here is of a visor I have of Dan's. I still have it. I traded a photograph with Dan for the visor.

I'm sure Dan is smiling upstairs with this victory of his old team.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann