December 19, 2016

Winter is in the state of Wisconsin, finally! We have snow and the cold all at once it seems. It's really beautiful and the snow is very fluffy. It's easy to shovel. The snowblower is out for repair, but it worked great when I tested it a month ago! Hopefully we will get it back soon, more snow on the way.

Well, I am scanning the 2003 race at Road America lately and for a few more weeks that is what we will be looking at. The cars were so great then. They had so much horsepower and they looked really nice.

These were the days with different engine and chassis manufacturers. It was during the years when teams put blankets over the car wings, both front and rear, to hide their secrets for more speed.

Enjoy a look at Tiago Monteiro again, plus Rudolfo Lavin, Mario Haberfeld, Ryan Hunter Reay and Oriol Servia.

Time to keep working on our basement project. We finished the painting last week and I finished the floor tiles yesterday on a day off of work! Now it's time for the cove molding and then it's about done!!!!!

Have a great week. Don't shovel too much and stay warm.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

P.S. Thanks to everyone who bought one of my Rich Zimmermann Photography rock'n roll calendars! Sold out early this year!

November 14, 2016

In a continuation of my past couple of blogs, I'm focusing on May 24th and 25th of 1993. These were two testing days at the Milwaukee Mile for CART drivers.

Way back when in the old Indy car days, the guys would practice and test at the Milwaukee Mile in between the Indy 500 and the Milwaukee race that was traditionally the weekend after the Indy 500. Not anymore, but back then and for many years it was tradition to come up and test at Milwaukee. The guys couldn't practice at Indy and they were looking for something to do! You could say that they were a little itchy for some driving or practice!

Paul Tracy is pictured here with Rick Mears coaching him along with Teddy Mayer who both were Team Penske engineer wizards! Teddy Mayer worked at McLaren F1 with the legendary Bruce McLaren and many others.

The biggest thing I remember of this test session was Paul telling Rick Mears that "wait until Nigel Mansell gets here and feels the bump in turn one"! There used to be a big bump in turn one that caught everyone by surprise. The track has been repaved since then of course.

Paul Tracy was in his first full season of Indy cars in 1993 and was Rick Mears' replacement driver. He scored five victories and finished third in points. He also led the most laps, named most improved driver by his peers and won from pole position twice.

Enjoy a look at 24 year old Paul Tracy at Milwaukee.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Paul Tracy testing at the Milwaukee Mile on May 24th and 25th of 1993.

November 7, 2016

Voted by People Magazine in 1992 as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", Arie Luyendyk is also one of the fastest Indy car drivers ever.

He won the 1990 Indy 500 and I believe still holds the lap record at Indy. He has also raced in IMSA succesfully with A.J. Foyt, Danny Sullivan, Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson.

Starting in the Dutch Formula Ford series in the Netherlands in 1973, he finished second overall and won five races. Formula Three and Formula Vee were next and he moved to America in 1981.

In 1984 he made his Indy car debut at Elkhart Lake's Road America finishing eighth. He drove for Dick Simon Racing, Douglas Shierson Racing and moved to the Target Scotch Chip Ganassi Racing Team in 1992 where he had Morris Nunn as his main engineer. Mo Nunn is legendary and probably one of the best there is in the sport of Indy car racing.

His son Arie Jr. raced Indy Lights for a while with Dad as his coach. Great coach to have right??

Personally, I've always liked Arie because he was a local boy.  He lived around my wife's parents home in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We now live in that house. It's only about 5 blocks away from us and had an old Indy car in the garage!! His deadend street had a little oval and rumor has it that the car came out once in a while for a little warmup spin around the little oval! Wish we had lived here then because I would have been over to his house for sure! Arie and the family now live in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Anyway, take a look at Arie during a two day test session at the Milwaukee Mile on May 24 and 25 of 1993.

Enjoy a look at Indy cars when they looked great and the methanol smelled great!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Arie during a test day at the Milwaukee Mile in May of 1993.

October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween everyone!! The little beggers should be knocking on our door today at 5pm! It's fun to see the kids and we give them each a little bag of assorted candy. It's good size and they like us for that. Maybe they will be nice to us to as they grow up, right?

My next three blogs look at a test day that was at the Milwaukee Mile on May 24 and 25 of 1993. Today's blog photos are of Teo Fabi, one of the three drivers of this test session.

Teo Fabi came from Italy to the CART Indy car series after a few years in Formula 1. Prior to that he did everything from motorcycles to winning the European karting title in 1976 and flying helicopters, Sportscar racing, Formula Ford, Formula 3 and in 1989 he won the only victory for Porsche in CART at Mid Ohio.

He is a nice little guy that has done it all it seems!

Enjoy a look at Teo in a car that has the colors of Rick Mears and later Helio Catroneves. It was dubbed the yellow submarine and made famous by Rick Mears and Team Penske.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Teo Fabi at a test day in Milwaukee in May of 1993.

October 16, 2016

It's been five years since we lost Dan Wheldon... Five years ago on a nice Sunday in Las Vegas we lost a great racer, great father, and a comic who started racing with karts in England at age 4. He came across the pond to the United States in 1999 and started open wheel racing with Formula 2000 and kept moving up in the ranks of racing.

Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Bryan Herta and Dan were all famous for pulling pranks and jokes on each other. I've heard about a lot of the pranks they have done to each other all for fun. They would hide or move rental cars, motor homes and motorbikes or their keys and even throw pies in each others faces.  These guys had fun.

Today, we are remembering all of that and his Indy 500 wins in 2005 and 2011 in addition to his IRL Championship win in 2005.

I still have his helmet visor in my race room that he traded with me for a photograph. When I saw him a couple years later and asked for a visor with new sponsors on it for my collection he said, "for $100 mate", because that was what a lot of people were now doing.  People were getting a free visor from a driver and then selling it somewhere for $100 or more.

Never did get that visor.

Miss you Dan. Miss ya mate.

Thanks for the fun.

Rich Zimmermann

September 19, 2016

Today's blog is different than any other I have ever done!  There is no rock 'n' roll and no racing photos today.

This blog is about my boat that I have had since 1987 and loved very much. She is for sale.

Unfortunately, my body can no longer handle her fun and enjoyment! Plus I only used her 4 times last year and twice so far this year.

Between lack of use and my bad back, neck and arthritis she is now for sale!

I lived on Pewaukee Lake and I used her everyday for a while fishing for bass and muskies.

Had a lot of good times on this boat and if she could talk she would tell you some stories!!!

So, interested in a 1987 Skeeter Starfire SF150 that has had a complete new transom rebuild by Fountain of Youth? It has new carpet, seats, wheels and tires and just about everything else including the steering wheel.

There is a new trolling motor with about 10 hours on it. The only thing original are the two Lowrance depth finder graphs.

She does 70mph with a 5 blade Quicksilver prop and is my little 17 foot Indy car on water!

The sale will include everything except my fishing rods. 

Just another little note, that is not me in the boat!  One of these days I need to get someone to take photos of me in her at speed before I get rid of her!!

If interested to purchase or for a ride to convince you to purchase please email or call me. She needs a good owner and you won't regret it!

Email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call me at 262-490-8444.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

The 1991 CART race at the Milwaukee Mile, won by Michael Andretti.