Blog
February 12, 2024
I keep finding photos of races that I don't have in my website at www.richzimmermann.com. Here is one of those missing races that I've scanned in now.
It is the Road Runner 225 Champ Car race held on June 3, 2005 at the Milwaukee Mile.
Jimmy Vasser would get the last pole position of his career and I have his helmet visor from the pole winning run!
Paul Tracy won the race and led most of the laps of the day with his beautiful Forsythe Racing Champ Car.
I spent a lot of time with the Mi-Jack racing team with drivers Andrew Ranger from Canada and Nelson Philippe from France.
Andrew had a lot of promise as did Nelson but they finished the race 16th and 12th respectively. Andrew would continue racing after one more year of Champ Car then back to racing in Canada.
Nelson Philippe had a heavy shunt during a practice session and was just very sore. I shared my Bio Freeze with him! I always carry it with me and use for my sore neck and back. Got his helmet visor for that. He's a very nice guy.
Oriol Servia was racing for injured Bruno Junquiera and finished third with future star A. J. Almendinger finishing second.
Great late racer and friend Justin Wilson finished fourth. Justin was one of the nicest guys in pit lane. He always had time for a chat.
Sebastien Bourdais won the championship in 2004 and would win it again in 2005 but only finished sixth here. Love the photo of Carl Haas giving Sebastien a thumbs up before the race and hugging the nose of Oriol Servia's car as he always did with his cars.
Enjoy a look at that weekend.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
January 29, 2024
Listening to the 24 Hours of Daytona IMSA Race as I write this and there is one hour left to race! Pulling for my friend Pipo Derani in the Cadillac who had the fastest pole position ever at the track and has led many of the laps. Team Penske Porsche with Pipo's old teammate Felipe Nazr is leading right now...
My blog this week is about one of our great Indy Car, CART and Champ Car drivers, Cristiano da Matta. He won the CART Championship in 2002 for Newman Haas Racing.
Cristiano drove F1, Indy Lights where he won the championship in 1998, F3, Formula Ford and more after starting racing in karts at 16 years old. His father was a 16 time Brazilian touring car champion so Christiano had racing in his blood.
On August 3rd in 2006 Christiano collided with a deer that ran across the track at Road America as he was coming up the hill to turn 6 during testing. Thankfully, Christiano survived but had a head injury that took him until September 21 before being released from the hospital in Neenah, Wisconsin. On September 24th he gave the command to start your engines at Road America for the Champ Car race.
Thanks to his great physical shape and a great safety team, he made it back to a race car in 2008 and then raced in 2009 and 2011 in the American LeMans Series.
The Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary (CARA) was formed years ago to help drivers and their families pay for medical services and other things. Insurance for race drivers is like being a fisherman for a living. CARA has helped injured racers for years and had an auction with Autoweek magazine to raise money for the Christiano da Matta Recovery Fund.
I bid on a Firestone race tire signed by all the drivers and Paul Newman. Surprisingly, I won it. I later had Mario Andretti sign it and that photo is on my Rich Zimmermann Photography Facebook page. The tire proudly sits in our race room/man cave.
Christiano is doing well now and so is his family. Did you know that he is a musician too?
Enjoy some photos of racer Cristiano through the years.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
January 15, 2024
In this blog we take a look back at the 1994 CART Miller Genuine Draft 200 at the Milwaukee Mile on June 5, 1994.
The weekend prior to the Milwaukee Mile race was the Indianapolis 500 which was won by Al Unser Jr. in his Team Penske Ilmor powered Indy Car.
There are not too many racers that have won the Indy 500 and the Milwaukee Mile race the following weekend but Al Unser Jr. was one of them to win both in 1994!
This was the year that Michael Andretti came back to Indy Car with the Target Chip Ganassi Team after an unsuccessful year in Formula 1.
Notice also the photos of Rick Mears giving Casey Mears some advice in his Indy Lights car.
One of the best liveries ever of an Indy Car is Adrian Fernandez Tecate car seen here. It's just beautiful, as is Bobby Rahal's Miller Genuine Draft car.
The Miller Genuine Draft 200 actually became the Miller Genuine Draft 192 because rain ended the race on lap 192.
Raul Boesel was on the pole position but Al Unser Jr. dominated the race.
Finishing second to Al Unser Jr. was Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy making the top three cars, all Team Penske.
Enjoy a look at the Milwaukee Mile in 1994 and get your tickets for the races this year on August 31 and September 1.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
