Vintage Grand Prix Race Weekend; Dancing Queen at Jam on Walnut; Double Dog Studios Art Opening (Sat., 7/24/21)

Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Race Weekend—July 24-25, Schenley Park

Drivers will start their engines and fans will lower their tailgates for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix race weekend in Schenley Park. The event is one of America’s largest vintage race events. Saturday will see race qualifying heats with over 150 vintage racers, and Sunday is the main race day. Both days’ action goes from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Other highlights include car shows featuring international, Italian, and British cars, a vendors marketplace, food offerings, and track rides in MINI Coopers. The Chevrolet Corvette is the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix’s Marque of the Year 2021. Qualifying race heats are on Saturday and the featured race is on Sunday. Look for Vintage Grand Prix events throughout Pittsburgh in the run up to the race. Charities benefiting from race proceeds are the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Valley School. Free. (RH)

Two older, vintage, open-wheel racers jockey for position. (Photo: Rick Handler)

2) For four Saturdays every summer Walnut Street in Shadyside shifts its focus from the usual bustling bevy of bistros and boutiques to putting a bit of music in the air, courtesy of the Shadyside Chamber of Commerce. The annual Jam on Walnut series brings some big names out for free concerts that stop traffic and pack the street. Tonight’s edition features the perennial favorite–Dancing Queen. So get your groovin’ shoes on and head on out. All of the Jams On Walnut are free to attend and proceeds from food and drink sales benefit Animal Friends and the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation. 7 p.m. 5442 Walnut St., Shadyside.

‘Is Your Spacecraft Ebbing or Burning Oil?’ This painting, by William Truschel, is one of 155 artworks in the Double Dog show.

3) There’s a new art gallery in town—in Carnegie, to be precise—and Double Dog Studios opens its gallery space to the public on Saturday eve with a fine show of paintings and other pieces by Pittsburgh-area outsider artists. Double Dog is owned by the Klugs: nationally known illustrator Dave Klug, who’s also a musician (the drummer for Red Beans & Rice), and Pat Klug, known for her work in marketing and communications. The exhibition is titled They Taught Themselves. This refers not to the Klugs but to the artists who are featured, since outsider artists by definition are self-taught rather than art-schooled. The show is curated by Pat McArdle, an expert in the genre. Previously he has put together one-person exhibits of astounding work by artists such as Robert Wright and Chuck Barr. For They Taught Themselves, McArdle presents an array of artworks in many styles by 13 self-taught artists, including Wright, R.G. Maxwell, Inez Hess, Kathleen Ferri, and more. Seeing the show is perhaps the closest you can come to visiting an outsider-art museum, something Pittsburgh doesn’t yet have. The opening reception is 6 to 9 p.m. and the exhibition runs through September 4. Visit Double Dog on the web for details. 317 Second Ave., Carnegie. (MV)

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