Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Donates $275,000 to Charity and Takes a Victory Lap

 PITTSBURGH, PA (December 5, 2023) The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix dropped the checkered flag on its 2023 event by presenting a $275,000 donation check to their charity partners.

The Victory Lap event was held at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Cranberry on November 29. Sponsors and Car Club Partners were acknowledged, and volunteers were honored with checkered flags.

“At the Victory Lap, Ted Sohier told the volunteers and sponsors stories from our first ten years. Famous drivers like Sam Posey, Renee Dreyfus, Chip Robinson, and the historic cars that raced in Schenley Park in the early years. The PVGP is an important part of the history of vintage racing in America. As we look ahead to the future, the PVGP created a strategic plan to elevate this Motorsports festival to an international event, showcasing our long history, its unique setting in Schenley Park, and the community-wide involvement of our events and volunteers. The strategy is to increase our charitable mission while showcasing the City of Pittsburgh, Oakland, the Universities, and the rich history of Western Pennsylvania,” said James Dolan, PVGP Chairman.

Danny Yanda also regaled the early days of the Grand Prix and fondly recalled the times he spent with former Race Director and Board member Mike Connolly organizing the races – sadly, Mike passed away just after the event this year.

Merakey Allegheny Valley School, Senior Regional Executive Director Roni Erath shared, “We are incredibly grateful to the PVGP community for its year-long commitment and salute your efforts to this world-class event. Your energy helps to focus attention on Pittsburgh and provides support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism.

Jesse Torisky, CEO of Autism-Pittsburgh, stated “We express our gratitude for the hard work and dedication of so many people who work to make the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix a top-level fundraising event. This enables us to continue to serve the autism community in 15 counties here in Western Pennsylvania.

“Charitable donations are just one part of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. We are proud to recognize all of our sponsors and partners. The checkered flags are a token of appreciation for our volunteer’s winning efforts. I wish we could give everyone a checkered flag – they are all winners,” stated Dan DelBianco, PVGP Executive Director.

 

ABOUT THE PITTSBURGH VINTAGE GRAND PRIX

Founded in 1983, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Motorsport Festival features two weekends of racing action. The first weekend is the PVGP Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The second weekend is racing through a 2.33-mile road course set on the streets of Schenley Park.  Between our race weekends we stage car shows, parties, road rallies, and a blacktie formal. The PVGP is driven by 1,200 volunteers, dedicated to staging the country’s largest and longest running vintage race event. It is also a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization with a mission to provide residential care, treatment and support for people with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities – donating $6.7 million to date to  Autism-Pittsburgh and Merakey Allegheny Valley School.