Event Coverage: the 2026 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix with kobus
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, billed as “the nation’s largest vintage street race,” is hands-down one of the best vintage racing events in the country. We’ve had the honor of hosting events there a couple of times now, but we weren’t able to make it a stop on the BaT event tour this year. Fortunately, our roving events correspondent @kobus was there behind the camera and the wheel. He recently sent us this recap of the July event, which includes his own photos alongside those of ace motorsports photographer Bill Stoller.
July 18-19, 2026—Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
I have too many favorite events: the overwhelming awesomeness of the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival, the exhilaration of racing up Mt. Equinox, and the utter thrill of taking cyclekarts out for a spin on a farm or frozen lake, to name a few. But rising above all of these is the spectacle that is the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Not only is the racing amazing, but the PVGP is a true happening with events all week long and a massive car show on the hilltop golf course. The cherry on top is that it’s all for charity.
Racing through the streets of a public park with virtually no runoff or protection may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can’t get enough—this was my fourth time. To get a feel for the course, watch this video of my 2023 race. This year I opted for the no-race “Preservation” group that allowed passing only on the straights. Although it was a blast, I missed actually racing and will have to switch back next year. Because it’s impossible to race and get action photos of the groups before and after mine, I’ve included a few by good friend, pro motorsports photographer Bill Stoler.
Once again the golf course was covered with cars of every imaginable make, which were divided largely by nationality and marque. This year, overland vehicles and vintage motorbikes were included.
But I was here for the racing. George Vapaa puts my four years of competition to shame—he’s the current recordkeeper, and just completed his 36th race weekend. He took over the honor from Bob Deull who, according to George, “had a tongue hanging out from the nose [of his car] and eyeballs on the headlights…a real crowd freak. He was never fast, but he was always fun, and that’s part of what this event is about: fun and getting the crowd to enjoy it.” The first car George raced at the PVGP was a 1932 Morgan 3-wheeler. He subbed in because the driver had a kidney stone attack. Others included a 1949 Cooper Formula 3 with a 500 cc JAP engine, a 1930 Miller Sprint car with a flathead 4-cylinder motor, a Morgan and a Dyer flathead V8 Sprint car. This year George brought a Quantum Saab Formula S. “Available starting in 1963 as a kit, they were pretty inexpensive at first, and they never got real expensive. A stock one has drum brakes, with the front brakes being from the rear of a Saab 96 and the rear brakes being from the front of the Saab 96.”
PVGP Competition Director Joe Tepliz has been racing since the seventies, and has been involved with this event for 15 years. He brought a wonderful Citroën 2CV that originally raced in England. Joe is also Race Director for the very unique Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races. Action photo by Bill Stoler.
Chris Duerr celebrated his 25th anniversary in Schenley, and raced his Porsche 356 Speedster with me in the Preservation class. His car has been a race car for most of its life, and competed throughout the Sixties and Seventies.
Racing specials run in Dave Gibson’s veins; his rocket is essentially a 1964 Lotus Elan C Sports-Racer. Built in the ’60s for the SCCA’s now-defunct C-Sports category (small-bore open prototypes with fiberglass bodies), it retains its Elan chassis and suspension, but now sports a 1275cc BMC Mini Cooper S engine and a Datsun 5-speed transmission. I first met Dave at Schenley in 2022 when he ran another unique special that can be seen here.
When PVGP added the non-racing Preservation group, it took little to convince good friend and VSCCA Chief of Flagging Jim Bottomley to join me. He’s a regular at hill climbs and other non-racing events, and knows how to throw his two MGAs around. Action photo by Bill Stoler.
After restoring a ’75 Midget, Jim fell in love with a partially restored red MGA, bought it, finished the restoration, and began driving the car all over the country. “In 2003, my wife and I drove the car to an MGA get-together in Welch, Oregon. That turned out to be a 10,000-mile, 30-day trip during which the car turned over 100,000 miles, and since then I’ve turned it over another 100,000 and then some.”
The green MGA that Jim raced was restored by him over a 24-year period and is regularly campaigned in VSCCA track days and hill climbs. “Since I’m not a competitive driver with very little skill, it’s just for fun.”
Steve Morici trailered his 1963 Cooper T-67 Formula Junior all the way from Bonanza, Oregon, to race in this year’s PVGP (his 16th), and hits two or three more events in the Northeast with the VSCCA while he’s in the area. The Cooper originally belonged to Steve’s father, and he inherited it in 2008 and proceeded with a mechanical restoration. Cosmetically it’s original, and Steve was fortunate to race with his dad for almost five years.
Those are but a few anecdotes from a wonderful weekend, and I didn’t even get to any of the various ticketed galas or car parades that took place over the course of the week. If you’ve never been to the PVGP, be sure to put it on your calendar for July of next year. My full gallery from this year’s event is below.
