Vaughn Glace had quite a summer. The 19-year-old Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix volunteer and racer set a track record for Formula Vee’s on Race Day at Schenley Park on Sunday, July 25, and followed that up on October 3 when he won the Formula FX race at the 58th Sports Car Club of America’s National Championship Runoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are the Pinnacle of American Amateur Motorsports. Formula FX is a new class intended for winged, open-wheel formula cars of modest power and performance below that of Formula 1000 or Formula Atlantic vehicles.
Introduced to Racing through the PVGP
Vaughn got his introduction to racing through the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix as a volunteer when he was just 11 years old. He helped Dan Torisky of the Autism Society, manage the golf carts at Schenley Park on Race Weekend. He got his National Honor society volunteer credits from the PVGP while attending Mt. Lebanon High School. His father and uncles have been both volunteers and supporters of the event for decades.
The first time Vaughn stepped in a race kart was at Pittsburgh International Race Complex during the PVGP Historics one summer and it led him to the top.
“I grew up watching this as a kid and it’s what got me into racing. The opportunity presented itself to jump into one of these old cars and give it a rip around Schenley Park and I just had to take it. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is the perfect way of connecting car enthusiasts of all types to learn and grow while simultaneously giving back to our community. That’s why I’m proud to credit it as the birthplace of my motorsport passion. Volunteering for the PVGP holds a special place in my memories as I was not only able to participate in the event I love but I was surrounded by amazing role models I continue to look up to to this day,” Vaughn said.
The Glace Family
The Glace family has played an important part in the success of the PVGP. Brothers Scott, Tim and Russell started out as volunteers as their late Father showed his Corvette at the Larry Smith Car Show on Flagstaff Hill years ago. It has turned into a week-long Glace family tradition-now in its third generation.
Scott Glace is a Patron Parking Committee member and his son Vaughn helps when not racing. Brother Russell usually rolls into town from Florida with a special car to show. Jeff hosts his own Patron Parking Soirée under the trees. Tim puts together the well-planned, but mechanically challenging road rally efforts.
Jeff says “now our kids are stealing the spotlight- Patrick is a Cortile Judge-Sydney is showing her sweet Miata in the Asian car show-and Vaughn is Racing. For us the PVGP is not just about cars- it’s become the perfect blend of tradition, nostalgia and goodwill.”
Glace family from left to right: Scott, Vaughn, Tim, Eli (shoulders of father Patrick) Patrick, Ralf Berthiez (family friend), Frankie Malatesta (grandson of), and Russell.
It takes a family and a team to win. Vaughn (in the center) is flanked to his right by Johnny Walko III, his chassis engineer.
Glace Tops Youthful First FX Podium
October 2, 2021 – The 26th and final race of the 2021 SCCA National Championship Runoffs on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course demonstrated that the event — in its 58th year — has a bright future.
Vaughn Glace — the senior driver among three first-time Runoffs rookies on the podium — won the Formula X race that closed out the three-day festival of amateur road racing this evening. The Pittsburgh resident bested fellow teenagers Trevor Russell and Austin Hill over 19 laps at the historic venue, which hosted the Runoffs for just the second time this year.
Russell, from Tucson, AZ, stole the lead from Tire Rack Pole Award winner Glace at the start and held it through most of the first two laps. But Glace cleanly out-braked Russell into Turn 12 to reclaim the top spot.
Vaughn Glace pilots his USF 2000 Mazda MZR Mazda, 19 to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 3.
From there, Glace extended his lead to 2.4 seconds on the eighth lap, only to see Russell begin to reduce his advantage by 0.1 to 0.3 seconds per lap.
Russell cut the gap to under a second on the 14th lap as Glace began to work through traffic. As Russell came up behind the same lapped cars, Glace was able to manage his cushion over the final few laps, taking the checkered flag with a 1.363-second advantage.
Hill, a resident of Frankfort, OH, finished 11.301 behind, followed by Tao Takaoka and Robert Wright. Ryan McLaughlin advanced from 13th to 9th to earn the Sunoco Hard Charger Award.
“I didn’t get the start I wanted and obviously lost out into Turn 1,” Glace recalled. “I tried to put a big lunge on [Russell], and it kind of worked and kind of didn’t. I had to get in the groove of things to feel the setup changes we made on the car after qualifying. Once I got in front and to lap five and my spotter was telling me the gap, I felt pretty confident.”
He didn’t have it easy, though, because Russell kept the pressure on Glace, who locked his right front wheel several times under braking.
“Once I built a gap to Trevor and got settled in, it was a pretty sharp learning curve to figure out what the car needed and how to drive around it,” he said. “That quickly changed because the rear of the car started acting differently throughout the race. It was damage limitation in my head, and we did a pretty good job of it. We kept our head in and kept pushing forward and it all worked out.”
Russell admitted that encountering traffic late in the race blunted his charge. “The car started feeling better in the middle of the race,” he said. “I made some sway bar adjustments and that got me a little more pace. I fell into a groove, and it seemed to work out pretty well. I’m very pleased.”
The 58th SCCA® National Championship Runoffs®, the Pinnacle of American Amateur Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at the Racing Capital of the World—Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Indianapolis, Indiana—during the Hagerty Race Days Friday Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 3.
