On Thursday evening, the 40th annual Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix made a stop in Butler County.

The 10-day motorsport festival, which draws more than 150 vintage sports cars and their drivers to Pittsburgh, came to the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township for its Passport to Elegance Jet Center Party on Thursday after their usual venue for the party did not work out.

In addition to about 25 of the antique vehicles, a number of planes and a helicopter also were on display at the event, which featured an opportunity for those in attendance to view the vehicles and talk with their owners.

The Vintage Grand Prix is known as one of the nation’s premier vintage motorsport events, and it’s the only one where the vehicles race on city streets — adding to its allure.

According to Scott Kerr, who is a committee member for the Grand Prix race week, the annual “hangar party” was nearly canceled. It has previously been held at the Allegheny County Airport, but when that venue didn’t pan out, he suggested Butler.

What is especially interesting is that the event sold out upon its move to Butler.

Kerr said in an article published in the July 22 edition of the Butler Eagle that he was proud to host the Passport to Elegance Jet Center Party in Butler.

We, too, are proud of Butler County’s involvement in this nationally-known event. We are happy that the pre-race gathering was able to relocate to Butler, and find success in the county.

We hope those that visited the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport enjoyed their time in Butler County. We hope they take home positive memories of the county we call home.

And we hope the organizers will consider hosting the event in Butler again in the future. — TL