There are few machines like a vintage car in racing shape, decades of wear massaged away and an engine revved to speed.

More than 160 drivers who brought their darlings to Schenley Park this weekend for the 28th annual Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix would tell you the same: These beasts are quirky.

The cars and their drivers flocked from California, Canada and McKees Rocks, some dating to the 1930s, others stacked with the curves of the '50s and '60s. Racing through a 2.33-mile course with more than 20 turns, their owners strained with all their might, shoulders shaking with each dip in the road.

"It's more like riding a wild animal than it really is driving a machine," said Curtis Liposcak, 45, of Madison, Wis., who competed in a 1932 MG J2.

The 10-day event, featuring a black tie gala and several car shows, attracted an estimated 250,000 spectators, according to race directors: 200,000 for the weekend's Crown Royal Vintage Races.

Lining the course Sunday even as rain pummeled the park, they watched cars of many shapes and sizes careen around corners, whiz up hills and loose buzzes and roars.

"They hearken back to our childhood," said Ron Smith, 71, of Ross. "We couldn't afford them, but we looked and salivated."

Proceeds from the Grand Prix, free for spectators, were dedicated to the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Valley School, which provides residential and therapeutic programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Event directors said the Pittsburgh event is the only vintage race in the United States run on city streets, complete with curbs, sewers, cracks, bumps and potholes.

"It's what they call history alive," said David King, 42, of Bucks County, Pa., who competed Saturday in a 1926 Amilcar until it broke down. "Magneto trouble," he said.

Drivers and spectators said the competition offered a feeling that could not be equaled by the best car show, where the beauties sit inert.

"What you've stumbled into is old car nirvana," said Jamie Pfeifer, 66, of Wildwood, Mo. "It's a very unusual subculture, if you will."

Mr. Pfeifer, who raced a 1959 Berkeley B95, a British sports car, said the event was not about winning. Winners typically finish the course with an average speed of 50 to 60 miles per hour.

Instead, drivers participate for the camaraderie, to show off machines that Mr. Pfeifer called "rolling art."

"Too many cars today look like they've been cut out of the same mold," said Kim Taylor, 55, of Bellaire, Ohio. Mr. Taylor drove an hour and a half to see the races.

When it began to rain before the finals started, muddying hillsides and slicking roads, race staff made ponchos out of trash bags and spectators unfurled umbrellas.

Drivers wiped their windshields with towels, strapped on their helmets and waited.

on the web

To watch a video feature on the Vintage Grand Prix, visit post-gazette.com

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