November 6, 2023

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Two inches of snow here and no trick or treaters.

This blog is about Scott Brayton who was an Indy Car, CART and IRL racer in the 1990's. He passed away tragically on May 17, 1996 at age 37.

A tire blew in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500 and Scott was killed instantly after hitting the wall. Sad story of too many racers I've known through the years in Indy Cars.

It's a crazy business and you know the hazards going in but it's a heartbreak every time we lose someone for the family and our racing community.

I met Scott Brayton only one time.  It was at the Milwaukee Mile and then I photographed him at Road America in 1993.

He was such a nice guy.  I recently realized that on Facebook we have a mutual friend!

We miss you Scott.  Here are some pictures from 1993 of Scott in a beautiful Indy Car.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Great day of racing at the Milwaukee Mile on August 27th, 2023.

September 25, 2023

It's been a very busy summer as I haven't done a blog in a month!

My stage 2 bladder cancer is so far under control after the right kidney was removed on July 24th.  I feel almost normal again!  Another CT scan in a little over a month to check things out.

On August 27th at the Milwaukee Mile, NASCAR came back to town! Last visit for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was in 2009. They ran for 15 straight years starting in 1995 at the Mile.

"The Clean Harbors 175" NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race ran along with the "Sprechers 150" ARCA Menards Series race. It was a beautiful day for racing and a great crowd showed up at race time.

Bonnie Blair our Milwaukee multiple Olympic gold medal skater was the Grand Marshall for the Craftsman Truck Series race which was very nice. Plus, we got a flyover with a C-130 and two F-35 fighter jets! Always love flyovers and the pilots need the practice and hours.

A few Wisconsin drivers were participating most notably Ty Majeski from Seymour, WI. who had just won the previous race, the Lucas Oil IRP.  Other Wisconsin drivers were Josh Bilicki, Dexter Bean and Derek Kraus.

Ty Majeski qualified second but was penalized after a right rear tire was confiscated during a pre-qualifying inspection.  I actually saw being done Sunday morning when I walked by the inspection area.

He qualified second but the penalty put him to 13th for the race and the crazy day saw him finishing seventh. The was docked 75 points as well as five playoff points. Crew chief Joe Shear was suspended for the next four races and fined $25,000. That's racing folks!

Friend and racer Josh Bilicki who we had big hopes for had a tire issue that put him out early and the race was won by rookie Grant Enfinger.

On another note,  Hailie Deegan finished 13th for a pretty good day.

Grant also raced the ARCA Menards race but William Sawalich won the ARCA race at 16 years old after a great last restart and race with Joel Love.

Great weekend of racing at the Milwaukee Mile.  Enjoy some photos!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

Part 2 of the 2022 Millers at Milwaukee 2022 event.

A fun weekend at the Milwaukee Mile with the Harry Miller Indy Cars and a few others.

November 14, 2022

I can't believe that it's almost Thanksgiving. Time flies, doesn't it?

Finally catching up with things but still have a ton of Summerfest photos to edit and archive for future blogs.

So, this is Part 2 of the Millers at the Milwaukee Mile on July 8th and 9th of 2022. The previous blog was Part 1.

During this two day event I took over 600 photos at the Milwaukee Mile. Then I went to Summerfest in the evening to photograph Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, The Tubes, John Fogerty, Los Straightjackets, Rick Springfield, The Cult and the Marshall Tucker Band!!  Probably took over 3000 photos that weekend.

Enjoy another look at some amazing and historic cars at the Milwaukee Mile.

It's such a good story of how Indy cars evolved through the years. I still can't imagine driving an Indy 500 in some of these cars, but at the time, they were the state of the art machines.

Some of these photos may look very similar to the photos in the Part 1 blog but the drivers are diffferent in a few of the cars. I'm also using 3 cameras with different setups and lenses.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

October 31, 2022

I just realized that I didn't put a blog up of this great event. It was at the same time as Summerfest and Gathering on the Green. It was a busy weekend here in Milwaukee.

The Millers at Milwaukee is a wonderful event held annually at the Milwaukee Mile. This year it was on July 8 and 9, 2022 and the weather was perfect.

If you don't know who Harry Miller is, PLEASE look him up and read the amazing history of this man from Milwaukee who changed racing history.

A lot of these cars are Millers that were complete with Miller engines. But, there are some other great pieces of history here running on track as well.

I took enough photos that I'm going to split this into two blogs and this is part 1.

These cars are pieces of art and one can only imagine racing 500 miles at Indy in one of them!

Not all of them ran on track but I tried to get a photo or two of all, plus of course the famous grid photo.

My grid photo is different than the traditional one done for years from the starters stand on the side of the track. I brought my 10 foot ladder, put it in the center of the grid, and photographed the bunch as they left the grid.

Enjoy a peak at them and more to come next blog.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

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

Fun in the infield course at the Milwaukee Mile May 15th 2022.

June 12, 2022

Been a few busy weeks with the Indy 500 and the SCCA Wisconsin Grand Prix at the Milwaukee Mile that was on May 13 through the 15th.

Then, up to Road America for the Road America Karting Club races. The kart racing will be another blog soon to show you a future superstar!

Here are the "break in" photos with my new Sony A9ll camera. It is an amazing camera.

These are some pictures of the SCCA folks at the Milwaukee Mile infield course to start off the year in racing. Never seen the infield course actually used until this event. Nice track and setup for SCCA club racers to enjoy.

Just a note that my heart broke for Scott Dixon in the Indy 500. He was my pick. He had that race won if it weren't for a pit speed violation...

I'll be editing Road America Indy Car photos for the next blog as you read this.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann