October 12, 2020

The weekend of August 26th,1973 at Road America was the Can-Am Championship race. Some of the fastest cars ever made were running and Roger Penske had a new car that was taking race win after race win!

Mark Donohue was Roger Penske's driver and a great engineer. The car they had was the McLaren beater with the help of Porsche and Audi and was called the Porsche 917/30TC. McLaren had dominated Can Am racing for a few years until Roger and Mark brought the Penske Racing Sunoco out to play!

Mark Donohue won this race and the championship at the end of the year in the beautiful blue and yellow car!

The Shadow cars of Jackie Oliver and James Hunt were breaking down a lot. James is seen here driving Jackie Oliver's car. James' car blew a fuel metering gasket and Jackie blew an engine.

Jody Scheckter and George Follmer finished second and third in Porsche 917/10TC's. The McLarens finished fourth and fifth.

Hurley Haywood had another Porsche 917/10TC but did not finish because of a tire puncture issue.

Enjoy a look at my second visit to Road America!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The 1973 Can-Am championship race weekend at Road America.

September 28, 2020

I always thought that the first race I photographed at Road America was in 1973. After doing some digging in the files for something from 1972, I found some black and white negatives of the 1972 Can-Am race at Road America on August 27, 1972!  That was three days before my eighteenth birthday!

It's interesting to look at what Road America looked like in 1972!! It was quite different but the pavement is in the same place. Road America is a beautiful race course with a rich history.

About a month ago, I was with George Follmer at Road America for the Shadow Racing car 50th reunion. Wish I had known that I had these photos to show to George!  I will be sending him a few copies this week of this race he won for Penske Racing in a Porsche 917/10 TC.

The George Follmer car is the #6 car.  The #22 car of Francois Cevert finished second. The #59 car of Peter Gregg finished third.

David Hobbs raced the #1 car but did not finish. Others that didn't finish were Peter Revson in the #4, Denny Hulme in the #5, Carlos Pace in the #101 Shadow and Jackie Oliver in the #102 Shadow.

The McLaren cars had been dominating the Can-Am series but Porsche and Audi were starting to make a nice move in winning with their beautiful cars.

Enjoy a look at Road America and the men in 1972!

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

August 17, 2020

IMSA racing at Road America is such a fun time.  This year we had rain coming down so hard at times. It was just crazy!!  I've photographed in the rain before but nothing like this.

The race was red flagged I think twice because of the downpours.  My favorite photo might be of corner worker Nate Kosak.  He was waving the red flag in turn five with the Whelen Cadillac. The Cadillac had a broken nose and there was one other accident that was enough to call for a red flag to stop the race for a bit.  Cars were flying everywhere and hydroplaning if they could see at all because of the rain.

In between the rain storms I had a chance to run to my Acura and drive it from turn five to turn eight. The good thing about both of these turns is they have little platforms with a wooden roof to hide in from the rain! I actually was fairly dry other than my tennis shoes! I wrapped the Sony camera in a towel to shoot through and it worked out well.

There are a ton a photographs to look at here.

Crazy race on Sunday! Congratulations to Helio Castroneves who got the win! He deserved it for leading most of the day and really being chased by the Mazda team and a couple of Cadillacs.

The Corvettes had a great race finishing one and two with a pass of the BMW in the rain!! Love the side by side in the rain Corvette photo!!

Aaron Telitz our Wisconsin guy put his Lexus on pole but the crazy day had him finish third. Next time Aaron!!

Enjoy some wet and dry photos of a wild weekend.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

August 3, 2020

What a crazy, busy and fun weekend at Road America! It was the 50th Anniversary of the Shadow Racing Team and all of the magnificent cars!

George Follmer, one of the original Shadow drivers, was there to sign things and to say hi. Plus it was the release of the Shadow book.  I have a photo in it of James Hunt driving Jackie Oliver's Shadow in 1973.  It's on page 203, just in case you need to check it out!

I'll let the photographs do the rest of the work here because I've gotta get ready for IMSA at Road America!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Vintage Indy Registry Cars and Indy Car at Road America on July 11th and 12th 2020.

July 20, 2020

What a great weekend at Road America on July 11th and 12th!!

The Vintage Indy Car Registry brought about twenty cars from the 1930's to 1990's. They basically do exhibition laps without any racing because the cars are so valuable.

Indy Car had two races to run just to catch up for missed events due to the COVID-19 virus. There was one race Friday afternoon and one on Sunday. It was a full 48 hours or more of work for these teams.

They were great Indy Car races for both Scott Dixon and Felix Rosequist!!

The new aeroscreen for Indy Car is good to see but it makes photographing the guys a little more challenging! It's worth it though to keep these guys safe.

Enjoy 92 photos of the fun!!!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

July 6, 2020

Last weekend I experienced MotoAmerica in action at Road America! These guys on motorcycles are fearless and or crazy!!!

Five different classes ran races plus some great historic classic old race bikes drove the track for exhibition.

1000hp Superbikes doing wheelies at the start and almost every lap coming out of turn two is something to see. Mathew Scholtz is seen here doing an off track excursion before the race in practice!

Cameron Beaubier on his Yamaha Superbike has been dominant at both visits this year at Road America except for the second race last weekend. He had his bike slip away on a bump in turn one. That gave the race to Bobby Fong on his Suzuki if he could hold on.

Jake Gagne, Kyle Wyman and Mathew Scholtz gave him a good run but Bobby Fong got the win on Sunday's Race 2!

Check out some of the bikes that were at the track with a nice Wisconsin State Patrol group of motorcycles leading them off for the final race Sunday. I heard one of the State Patrol guys was retiring after his ride that day. Nice way to end your career!

First time seeing these guys and they are just something to witness!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Fun times at Road America with MotoAmerica on the weekend of June 27, 2020.