Veach Wins Lights Race At Milwaukee Mile

Zach Veach with a pre-race prediction, which he fulfilled at the Milwaukee Mile.  [Mark Walczak Photo]

West Allis, WI – August 17, 2014 – When he is away from the track, young Zach Veach has been labeled as a community leader and an inspirational advocate for various service groups. But on the track the 18-year-old from Ohio has risen in the ranks to be a driver hoping to someday win the Indianapolis 500.

Sunday, at the Milwaukee Mile, Veach and his Andretti Autosport teammate Matthew Brabham dominated the 100 lap Cooper Tire Indy Lights race on the historic track.

The field readies for the start of the Indy Lights race at the Milwaukee Mile. [Russ Lake Photo]

Matthew Brabham passes Zach Veach for the lead. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Zach Veach celebrates in Vicotry Lane. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Indy Lights Milwaukee podium Matthew Brabham (2nd), Zach Veach (winner), and Gabby Chaves (3rd). [Russ Lake Photo]

Matthew Brabham “puffs” Gabby Chaves before going after teammate Zach Veach. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Zach Veach gets his cream puff via Matthew Brabham. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Messy podium Matthew Brabham, Zach Veach, and Gabby Chaves. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Matthew Brabham helps Zach Veach cool off. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Veach jumped to an early lead from the pole and led the eight-car field for 39 laps before surrendering the top spot to Brabham, the grandson of three-time Formula 1 champion Sir Jack Brabham and son of former IMSA champion Geoff Brabham.

“If we didn’t have the restart, Matt would have walked away with the victory. He did a really good job in the race,” admitted the winner.

With Brabham leading, the duo was slowed by a late race caution from laps 92-95 when Luiz Razia hit the wall in turn 2. It took just one circuit after the restart for Veach to listen to his spotter’s advice and go around Brabham in turn two and hang on for the 0.860 sec. win.

“I got really lucky having that restart. I’m so happy that we’re still in the championship and a couple of races ago it was looking gloomy for us,” Veach admitted.

The victory moved Veach to within eight points of series’ leader Gabby Chavez who finished third.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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