Blog
May 17, 2021
Got some sad news with the passing of Uncle Bobby Unser a few weeks ago. Uncle Bobby, as we all called him, had been in ill health for quite some time. We will miss him but it's OK knowing that he is upstairs in the ultimate Winner's Circle now.
This made me think of Al Unser Jr. and how Uncle Bobby supported him and his whole family of racers.
Al Unser Jr. will be driving the Mini Cooper pace car for the Vintage Indy Car Registry at Road America in June with the Indy Car weekend. It's a little smaller and not as fast as the car shown here from 1991 at the Milwaukee Mile.
Check out this very fast car from the CART racing days at the Milwaukee Mile along with two photos of Uncle Bobby.
Al Unser Jr. won the CART series championship in 1990 which is why he has #1 on his car here in 1991. He also won the Indy 500 twice. First win was in 1992 and then in 1994 he won again.
Enjoy and hope to see you soon at the race track!!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
May 3, 2021
It is the month of May and that means it's Indy Car time and the Indy 500 is coming up on May 30th!
Time to practice for the greatest spectacle in racing as they say. Most of the month is dedicated to practice and setup of the cars.
Indy Car has had two races so far and it's been interesting with both races. The young drivers are moving up and really stepping it up. Colton Herta won the St. Petersburg race and Scott Dixon, the old master, won the first race in Texas. Pato O'Ward won the second race!
Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O'Ward, Colton Herta and more are very aggressive and ready to pounce for a victory. Veteran driver Scott Dixon will be trying for another Indy 500 win and moving for his seventh championship as well.
Here we look back at Road America last year where it was a great battle between Felix and Pato lap after lap. During the final ten laps they were a few feet apart from each other with Felix taking the win!
Get ready for some action with the Indy 500 and for Road America Indy Car June 17th through June 20th! The Vintage Indy Car series will be joining the Indy Cars at Road America again which is very cool to see and to hear those old cars.
Very sad to learn we lost Uncle Bobby Unser last night... One of the greatest old school Indy Car drivers around and all around nice guy. RIP Uncle Bobby...
Enjoy a nice month!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
April 19, 2021
My wife and I have been watching Dan Rather and the interviews he has done with musicians and actors. Most of the episodes are quite old but we have never seen them until recently.
Always liked and respected Dan Rather who is a lot like my father with his style of reporting and news broadcasting. However, my father definitely did not appreciate modern music as much as Dan Rather! Carl Zimmermann enjoyed Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and that era of music. Dan Rather likes all styles of music it seems.
The other night we watched Dan interview Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. The interview was a few years old but it was great to watch. Dan Rather confirmed how different Ian Anderson is and how very opinionated he is about pretty much everything.
Ian is an interesting individual demonstrating that in his music lyrics and ideas in general. I find him to be a bit unusual but a very talented musician. He told Dan that he plays the flute because he didn't want to be like everyone else and play the guitar.
The shows of Jethro Tull are entertaining for sure. There is alot going on and during the "Passion Play" tour he had movies and a ballerina on stage. For 1973 this was special!
I was part of an interview with Ian in 1971 for the Bugle American newspaper I was working for. I photographed him then and again in 1972 and 1973. That interview in 1971 was very very interesting. Ian had an opinion on everything! I'll dig that up for another blog soon.
The photos here are from the show on June 6, 1972 at the Milwaukee Arena. I always thought the 1972 band was the best version with Martin Barre on guitar who is an amazing guitar player. John Evan played keyboards along with Jeffrey Hammond on bass guitar. Barriemore Barlow on drums was also very good and the band you could see had a lot of fun together.
Enjoy and be safe.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann