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

October 21, 2024

Here is a look at some great old days of Indy Car racing when Champ Car AND the IRL both existed.  It was called "The Split" and friend Paul Zimmermann has written a good book on the whole mess. It was a mess that almost killed Indy Car. Thank you Tony George for almost destroying Indy Car racing.

The Time Warner Cable Road Runner 225 was the Champ Car race at the Milwaukee Mile on June 4, 2006 with Sebastien Bourdais in the pole position and winning the race. The late Justin Wilson took second and Nelson Philippe third.

Got to be friends with French driver Nelson Philippe who had a very sore neck during practice. I had some Bio Freeze in my truck that I use and I gave it to him to help calm his neck pain down a bit. It did, and he gave me his helmet visor for being nice!

Alexander Tagliani destroyed his car in practice right in front of me in turn 4 and was very lucky that he didn't get hurt at all. Alex was Will Power's teammate that year for Derrick Walker and Aussie Vineyards racing.

The Champ Car was a beautiful looking car and the Aussie Vineyards and McDonalds liveries are beautiful. Really a lot better looking than the IRL race car and faster I believe.

Justin Wilson led 61 laps, Katherine Legge 12 laps and A.J. Allmendinger led 7 laps.

Enjoy a look at some pretty cars and a mangled wreck of Alex Tagliani's car.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 22, 2024

The weekend of September 11, 1994 at Road America, the CART Indy Cars raced in the the Texaco Havoline 200.

That was a big year of change in CART because of the formation of the IRL series starting up. It was trying to take over the series. That is a whole story in itself someday for another blog, book or movie, but 1994 was a great year of CART racing.

On that nice Fall weekend at Road America we got to see a Canadian in the front row with Paul Tracy in the pole position and a young superstar named Jacques Villeneuve right next to him.

Nigel Mansell was on his last visit to Road America and had the fastest lap of the race but Jacques Villeneuve won it that day.

Team Penske showed up with Emerson Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy and Al Unser Jr. who won the Indy 500 that year with the very secret Mercedes Benz 500I engine that had 1,100hp! Al would end up winning the 1994 championship.

Michael Andretti came back to CART after a year in F1 that didn't go so well. Michael came back driving for Chip Ganassi's new team and won the first race of the year. This was also the last year of Mario Andretti racing in CART and Indy Cars.

Some other great racers you will see here in my photos are Stefan Johansson, Raul Boesel, Arie Luyendyk, Teo Fabi, Adrian Fernandez, Willy T. Ribbs, Scott Goodyear, Mauricio Gugelmin and Bobby Rahal in his beautiful Miller Genuine Draft race car.

Nice to see and remember Dick Simon who was a great team owner for several years for multiple drivers.

Notice the top of Al Unser Jr.'s helmet full of tire rubber and someone else's oil leak!!

Enjoy a look and some beautiful sounding and great looking Indy Cars.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

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

The Road Runner 225 Champ Car race at the Milwaukee Mile on June 3, 2005 won by Paul Tracy.

The annual race the weekend after the Indy 500 was always at the Milwaukee Mile for many years.

September 19, 2022

Now that our Indy Car season is done which makes me sad, here is a look at the 1995 CART race at the Milwaukee Mile. The Miller Genuine Draft 200 was held on June 4th 1995, the weekend after the Indy 500 which was traditionally when they ran here in Milwaukee.

These cars were fast and sounded so great! Plus, I think one of my favorite liveries of a race car is the car of Christian Fittipaldi seen here. It has a bit of the Brazilian flag and his helmet is awesome too.

Some good memories here with Bobby Rahal, Stefan Johansson, Christian Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr, Jeff Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and more. I remember using actual film in my cameras then. It was Kodak's Extar 25. It was a slow film but the colors were great.

Paul Tracy won the race with Teo Fabi second and this was the old Milwaukee Mile with the old grandstands. Good times!

Enjoy a look back.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 30, 2022

On June 2,1996, the CART Indy Cars came to the Milwaukee Mile. This was the good old days when the race was traditionally the weekend following the Indy 500.

That particular race had a bunch of caution flags, but it was really a race between Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy who had the pole position. They finished that way and were followed by Emerson Fittipaldi and Greg Moore.

This was at the time when Michael Andretti basically owned the race wins at the Milwaukee Mile for several years. This 1996 race was no exception with Mario Andretti being an awesome father and mentor.

It was a nice 80 degree day but windy I recall which probably didn't help driver Parker Johnstone. He spun on the first lap and then crashed with 5 laps to go!

In 1996 Jimmy Vasser would become the series champion and Alex Zanardi was the rookie of the year.

Enjoy a look at that day and my 400th blog!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

April 4, 2022

In 2007 the Indy Car racing world was very divided. We had the Indy Racing League (IRL), formed by Tony George in 2003 with his Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the helm.  We also had the Champ Car World Series.

From 2003 through 2007 we had the IRL and Champ Car as two separate series. It was a mess and mistake by Tony George that Indy Car is just now recovering from. In 2008 it became one series again called Indy Car as it still is today.

I was photographing the IRL at the Milwaukee Mile and the Champ Cars at Road America each year for four years.

On August 12, 2007, the Generac Champ Car Grand Prix at Road America was held. Race driver Sebastien Bourdais won the race and end up winning his fourth straight championship at the end of the year. Seabass, as we call him, was fast everywhere then and still is now.

Dan Clarke finished second and a very young Graham Rahal finished third.

All of the Champ Car race cars were beautiful and fast looking with great paint jobs.

Enjoy a look at the guys and a young Katherine Legge racing around beautiful Road America.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

March 7, 2022

The world is in a crazy place these days but the Indy Car season has begun!

It's great to see Scott McLaughlin win the first race of the year in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has a great future in Indy Car.

Last week was Mario Andretti's 82nd birthday and Sebastian Bourdais on the same day! Will Power's birthday was the following day. He had a strong showing in St. Petersburg. Will is trying to beat Mario Andretti for most pole positions with only one more to do it.

Here are a few photos of the Indy Cars through the years to get us in the mood for the season.

Good luck to all.  Last year's champ ,Alex Palou, has some competition this year. Colton Herta is my pick on his way to the championship!

Enjoy and be safe.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann