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.

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 24, 2019

What a fun and busy weekend with Indy Cars at Road America! I even ended up on the radio at 105.7fm, The Final Inspection show on Saturday!! Check it out at radio.com in the "on demand" section.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi were the stories of the weekend. Colton at 19 years old won the pole position for the Indy Car race!

For the race, Colton only led the first three turns and then it was Alexander Rossi all day to win the race!

I let the photos tell the rest of the story.

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 23, 2018

Here is a look at the Indy Cars at Road America on Saturday, June 23 a few weeks back.

Bryan Herta had a great weekend winning one of the Indy Lights races on Saturday. A few photos here show him making donuts while celebrating in turn five!

Will Power is shown really pushing it during qualifying and going off track. He qualified P1 though.

Enjoy a look at some beautiful cars. Love the new body/aero kit on the Indy Cars.

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann

May 28, 2018

It's Memorial Day as I write this blog and we should remember all of our fallen soldiers today and thank all the veterans for their service. Thank you Dad, Captain Zimmermann!

Yesterday, I sat in our nice air conditioned home and watched the Indy 500 and the F1 Grand Prix in Monaco. Tradition here is to take a break from chores and enjoy the races!

Well, Helio and a few other of my picks didn't win. Will Power won the race and congratulations to him.

The photos of Will Power included here start in 2007.

Next blog is Bon Jovi in 1987!

Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann