Flickr Gallery from the 2024 Evening of Speed – Click the image above to view the entire album
The PVGP is in the process of determining the location and details for our 2025 Evening of Speed.
In 2024 the PVGP moved the Drivers Reception from Orr’s Jewelry Store in Squirrel Hill to the Frick Fine Arts Library in Oakland. This unique experience allowed fans to meet the racers and their crews in a social atmosphere on Schenley Drive from Phipps down to Schenley Plaza.
The event featured a parade and display of the vintage race cars that competed over the weekend. There were displays, meet and greets, and insightful presentations, all set against the backdrop of the historic Frick Fine Arts Building beside Schenley Plaza.
The festivities kicked off at 4:00 PM with the positioning of the GT40 race car display at the Frick Fine Arts Library beside the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain. The front lawn of the Frick holds a special place in the history of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix as it was the site of the Grand Prix’s first car show 40 years ago in 1984.
Our First Car Show
The Frick Fine Arts Library and the Mary Schenley Fountain have a special meaning to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. It was the site of our very first car show back in 1984. Two dozen brass-era cars were displayed on the front lawn around the fountain. There was no car show during the inaugural one-day race in 1983. This was a one-day show that led to bigger and better things. It was not until 1985 that we began to host car shows on the golf course. Today there are 3,000 cars displayed on the Bob O’Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park. The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also known as ‘A Song to Nature’ is a 1918 landmark public sculpture in bronze and granite by Victor David Brenner.
The parade of 100 vintage race cars departs the paddock on Prospect Drive at 5:30, makes its way around the track, over the Panther Hollow Bridge and exits the track on Schenley Drive at Phipps Conservatory. The parade continues past Phipps, over the Schenley Bridge and parks outside the Frick Fine Arts Building. All outdoor activities and displays will be open to the public.
The Frick Fine Arts Library
The Frick Fine Arts Building is home to the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Opened in 1965, the building is a gift of Helen Clay Frick in memory of her father, Pittsburgh industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick.
Modeled after a Roman villa owned by Pope Julius III, Frick Fine Arts houses classrooms, art galleries, an open cloister, and one of the nation’s top fine arts libraries. The building’s treasures include reproductions of 15th-century Florentine Renaissance artworks by Russian artist Nicholas Lochoff. In 1911, Lochoff was commissioned by the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts to travel to Italy and make a series of copies of the finest examples of Renaissance art.
Frick Fine Arts Library
650 Schenley Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Schenley Plaza
The Schenley Plaza Tent hosted interviews starting at 5:30 PM, featuring students from three University Formula SAE teams, including the University of Pittsburgh’s Panther Racing, Carnegie Mellon Racing and Penn State’s Nittany Racing. The students discussed their development of EV-powered race cars with some racing engineers and designers from automotive manufacturers.
The evening continued outside with a talk by Bill Warner titled “Motorsports Photography Then and Now” in the Emerald Lawn Tent, aimed at attracting Instagram enthusiasts and students. The race cars roared to life at 8:00 and headed back to the paddock before sunset. It was and evening filled with vintage charm, innovative discussions, and community engagement within the picturesque setting of Pittsburgh’s historic landmarks.