Yinzer Goodwood; The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

The best motorsport events are the ones you know in your heart are only still around because of some vague idea of “tradition” and the continued momentum that comes with holding an annual event. Take the Monaco Grand Prix, for example; if you proposed the idea of that race today you would be laughed out of the room, but as it was proposed in the late 1920s, it was the same level of crazy as any motor race. While Pittsburgh is known as the Paris of Appalachia, it is no Monaco. Still, we do have our own street race, one that I think of as a hidden gem, rather than a crown jewel: The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, the best kept secret in American car culture, one that I fear has got a decision to make about what it wants to be.

Every year the PVGP has a featured Marquee, and usually gets someone from the history of said automaker to come out and be a grand marshall and be a hand for the big money donors that keep the event going to shake. This year, it was none other than Ian Callum, who was there as Jaguar was being honored, at what is a very odd time to be thinking about them as a brand. Anyways; on Sunday, I was milling about as they brought Ian up to talk to everyone on the PA system in-between racing. As he spoke, I realized that he had come to the same conclusion I had: This is an event that is primed to blow up, and become one of the legendary American automotive events.

I don’t know if I had ever heard of the PVGP before I moved to Pittsburgh full time in 2023. It’s odd, because the race had been long established as a local tradition by the time I was shuffling up here to give my parents a break from my summer teen moodiness in the early 2010s. The race originated in the early 80s, and became a fixture of mid-summer, taking over Schenley park and the adjacent golf course. Over the course of the last 44 years it’s grown into nearly a month-long festival, with a whole host of related car shows in every corner of what is considered to be Greater Pittsburgh. It’s all for charity, and it seems to bring out the very best in both Pittsburgh spirit and automotive culture.

I had been spoiled in my later teen years—and well into my adulthood— with a lot of access to very exotic cars. So, I think maybe I was a little jaded my first time to the show in 2023. Not really digging into the meat of the event, and just doing a lazy pass through the cars, and watching a couple of the practice sessions. Neat, but I think I was too stuck in my own head that year to really be able to fully appreciate just how wonderful the PVGP is.

Now, three years later, I have become a diehard evangelist for the event, and with media credentials in hand, I was eagerly awaiting to see what the event would look like, a year on from a weird 2025 which had seen the Grand Prix course unavailable due to the bridge that’s a key feature of the course being closed for repairs. So, the event was run as a hillclimb instead, with a much smaller course being laid out for the usual class races off to the side of the main circuit. It felt less than ideal, and trying to get to the new circuit from the parts of the old one was a mess. 2025 was also the last year that the festival held events at Pitt Race before it’s closure late last year, to become a datacenter that might never actually happen. 

At least this year, we were looking at a pretty normal race weekend, as thanks to Pittsburgh’s Boy Mayor, they were able to get special permission to use the newly repaired Panther Hollow Bridge. So, enthusiasm was high going into the weekend, and despite the rain putting a damper on proceedings Saturday, I still saw a turnout of cars that dwarfed all but the biggest shows in the US. And while the event had not been bad the previous year, it felt apparent how much easier the racing itself was going with the return to the traditional track layout, and event structure. 

Going back to our guest of honor; Mr. Callum was more than frank, admitting that he hadn’t heard of the event until he was asked to attend, and how he couldn’t believe the quality of both the car show, and how intimidating and special the track itself felt. He said he was going to go screaming about the event back to all of his industry friends and colleagues back in Europe that they all need to come check out this almost untouched and unknown week of automotive excellence. 

And while I would be so proud to watch the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix explode, to truly become a draw to the international audience that enjoys similar gatherings like the going ons at Goodwood, or the Monterey Historics, one must also worry about everything that comes along with that exposure. It’s funny to be worried about "gentrifying" an event that this year had several million dollar cars in attendance, but I think anyone who has seen something that used to be a beloved local institution explode in popularity that there is a necessary change in vibe that goes along with the success. 

As it exists today, the PVGP is an event that is truly one that accepts every single facet of car culture. Seeing the rarified Porsche gathering sat right next to the import car scene with its Hatsune Miku liveried Itashas, all next to American muscle and classic British sports cars. The level of mingling and mutual appreciation is very Pittsburgh, as is the joy of the volunteers. Pittsburgh is a city with a chip on it’s shoulder, and every time we get outside recognition about one of our cultural touchstones, it is a moment to puff your chest out and go “well of course, we are a wonderful place after all”

And the thing is, it would be trivially easy to get more eyes on this event. For instance, I think I was one of maybe 20 folks running around with media credentials that I saw, and half of them were local lifestyle influencers, and even more were writing for purely local outlets. I saw Hagerty is now sponsoring the event, which makes sense as I assume half of the cars there must have been carrying their insurance. If they brought a video team out, let Jason Camisa or Henry Catchpoole or any of their other youtube talent, I have to assume they’d be the highest profile coverage the Grand Prix has seen in years.

I was baffled at the lack of structure to cover the event, and equally a little charmed. I almost hate myself for thinking of all the ways I would be working to get the event better organized, get the races livestreamed, get more media engagements together. Because, if that happens, at what point does it stop being the thing I love?

Yinzers are born chatters, and you pair that with the car show vibe, and I had some of the best conversations I’ve ever had at car shows on the lawn of the Bob O’Connor Golf Course as over my shoulder a vintage Porsche 911 overtook a BMW 2002 on total opposite lock before diving back through the forest and the park the other way. I don’t know if there is a more enjoyable weekend on offer anywhere in the US outside of a permanent race course, and while there are many possible futures I want for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, I do always hope it still feels like what it is, and that is an event that is so confidently Pittsburgh.