July 11, 2022
On the weekend of June 12, 2022, the Indy Cars came to race at Road America. The Sensio Road America Grand Prix was a spectacular race! For a while we figured it was going to take all day though.
Alexander Rossi won the pole position and Josef Newgarden won the race with a great pit stop that put him ahead of Alex for the win.
The first 10 laps or so had a bit of crazy driving. Jimmie Johnson went off course on the first lap in turn 3 which brought out the yellow flag.
Alex Palou had contact on lap 4 for another yellow flag and then Will Power had a wild accident in turn 5. Will Power got a little push by Devlin DeFrancesco that put him into the wall and was facing the wrong way with a broken nose on his car. He attempted to continue on right in front of me, but had to stop on track and get the nose removed.
Finally, at lap 10 we got going again for a great race.
In my photos, checkout the hot brakes on many of the cars. Then look at winner Josef Newgarden doing some really nice victory donuts with alot of smoke and perfectly shaped donuts! Those tires were done after that for sure but his "favorite race car" he said was fine to race again.
Had great weather and it was a fun time at Road America!
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
The Champ Car and IMSA series at Road America in 2007.
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
July 12, 2021
Last week, I focused my blog on the Vintage Indy Reserve cars. This week, I'm showing you the Indy Cars that ran that same weekend at Road America.
Included in this blog are some Indy Lights, USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 race cars and drivers.
The Indy Cars are my favorite race cars of all. They never cease to amaze me with what the drivers can do with them! Takuma Sato is a wild driver and his car shows it as the race went on. It will need some bodywork!
After two days of practice and qualifying, it seemed Joseph Newgarden had things under control for the pole and the race. Well, he got the pole position and led a lot of the race but did not win.
Joseph really seemed to have it done until the last few laps when his gearbox had other ideas. Alex Palou won the race and Colton Herta was close behind in second. Will Power finished third followed by Scott Dixon and the Formula 1 racers Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean.
It was interesting to watch NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson trying to handle an Indy Car. It's going to take some time for him to get up to speed.
Not so for Formula 1 veterans Marcus Ericksson and Romain Grosjean. Romain really is fast and has adapted very well to Indy Car and is having fun being very competitive. Marcus and Romain will be winning soon I believe.
Check out the photos and enjoy the HOT brake photos taken near the end of the race. One actually looked like it was on fire! Unfortunately I missed that shot though..
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
September 23, 2019
I have been retired now for 20 days and I'm tired!!! I have been catching up on chores I've wanted to do and have a ton more to do. I'm not complaining though!
Yesterday was the final race of the Indy Car season and it was an awesome race!
Colton Herta at 19 years old won the race from pole position and Joseph Newgarden won the championship! Personally, I was pulling for Scott Dixon for the race win and championship but it was not meant to be. Scott's previous two races with mechanical issues really put him out of the championship hunt. He tried very hard though starting and finishing yesterday's race in second place.
Here are a few photos of the guys from Road America this year and now we have to wait a whole year before we see them race again!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
June 3, 2019
Finally it feels like summer today!! We have had crazy weather everywhere around the U.S. it seems. I will mow the grass for the third time this week and try to get our rain soaked grass back to normal and pretty.
Also, it seems like summer because we have some great Indy Car racing going on. The Indy 500 this year was one of the best in a long time other than all the commercials that is. I watched the whole race and most of the F1 Monaco race. Indy was by far much better racing!
The Indy Car guys had a good Race 1 in Belle Isle Saturday and the Sunday race 2 I'm about to watch. I think we have some of the best Indy Car racing going on in a long time. The crowd counts are up and television viewing is also up.
Nascar, that other series, is going further down every race with fewer fans and a bad show. They just don't get it on how to do a race weekend! It confuses me trying to follow it!
In a few weeks we have Indy Car coming back to Road America where last year we broke crowd records and it was an awesome weekend of racing.
Come on up and have a brat and a beer and watch the guys race at the best race track in the world!! That's my opinion but a lot of racers agree and compare it to Spa in Europe.
Here is a little look at last year's race as we get the cameras ready for Road America!!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
August 6, 2018
This is part three of my blogs on the Indy Car weekend at Road America. We look at images from Sunday here and mostly of the race.
It's amazing how hard these guys drive and how beautiful cars are. They have got to be true athletes to drive these cars the way that they do.
I also have a few images of the victory celebration from the Sunday morning Indy Lights race.
Enjoy some photos of a fun weekend.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
July 3, 2017
With summer here and life being so busy, I have started writing a blog every other week now. Indy cars last weekend and Summerfest this week, I'm too busy!
Here is a look at Friday of last weekend. The Indy Cars were at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. It's such a beautiful track.
Colin Herta is going to be a great race car driver in the future and you get a look at him here. He is Bryan Herta's son, and being on the Andretti Motorsports team, this kid is going to go far. Fuel and turbo issues had him doing zero laps in the morning and then he came out to get pole position for race 2 of Indy Lights.
Enjoy a look and I have to gear up for Steve Miller tonight at Summerfest rain or shine!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
