I magine stepping back in time to those glorious days of road racing when electrifying cars built by Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, MG and Morgan dominated the makeshift courses of the day, with drivers navigating through hay bales and fences, and wide-eyed spectators standing and sitting a stone’s throw away.
Fortunately, imagining isn’t necessary. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix keeps that tradition alive each year and remains the nation’s only vintage race staged on public roads – 2.3 miles of public roads to be precise, smack dab in the middle of Schenley Park, which sits in the center of bustling downtown Pittsburgh.
Hundreds of competitors from around the world are expected to compete in this year’s event, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of spectators. The happening actually takes several days, July 10-19, and includes races, car shows and motorsport events.
Click the ARTICLE tab above for the full story by Larry Sanata. Photos by Michael Sanata, Josh Caputo and September8th.com
By Larry Sanata
I magine stepping back in time to those glorious days of road racing when electrifying cars built by Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, MG and Morgan dominated the makeshift courses of the day, with drivers navigating through hay bales and fences, and wide-eyed spectators standing and sitting a stone’s throw away.
Fortunately, imagining isn’t necessary. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix keeps that tradition alive each year and remains the nation’s only vintage race staged on public roads – 2.3 miles of public roads to be precise, smack dab in the middle of Schenley Park, which sits in the center of bustling downtown Pittsburgh.
Hundreds of competitors from around the world are expected to compete in this year’s event, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of spectators. The happening actually takes in several days, July 10-19, and includes races, car shows and motorsport events.
Along with the races through Schenley Park, July 18-19, there’s the PVGP Historic Races at BeaveRun, July 11-12. The BeaveRun Motorsports Complex, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, plays host to slightly faster historic cars than those racing in downtown Pittsburgh.
Even more unique to this event is the fact that there is no admission charge. And donations collected during the PVGP go to the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Valley School. More than $2 million has been donated to those charities since the PVGP was founded.
While the racing is exciting, driver Alain Raymond said he cannot help but marvel at “the people and the cars” that make the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix so different from other historic events he attends during the course of a year. Raymond, who lives in Quebec, is planning on racing again this year in his 1964 Fiat Abarth 1000TC, a whimsical-looking giant-killer.
Mark Gessler, who until recently competed in a 1938 BMW 328 NSKK, described the Schenley experience as “absolutely fantastic.” His BMW was one of only three such competition cars built by the German automaker.
And Mark Maehling, who honed his driving skills as a student at Carnegie Mellon University on the roads of nearby Schenley Park, said he can’t imagine not racing in the PVGP. He will be on hand this year in a pale green 1969 Scorpione SS built by Abarth, which he and a longtime friend own. It is one of only three that still exist.
Dan DelBianco, executive director of the PVGP Association, credits the army of volunteers who set up and operate the event for its incredible success. Over the course of a weekend, Schenley Park is outfitted with tons of hay bales, water barriers and safety cones to create a challenging and elaborate road course – like those of bygone days.
To learn more about this year’s Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, visit www.pvgp.org
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
There's only one historic sports car race through public streets and this is it.
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