John Bechtol Recognized with the 2025 Vintage Motorsport Council’s Dewey Dellinger Award

March 3, 2025 – John Bechtol and his wife Dotti, a fellow racer, have been a PVGP mainstay for years.  In addition to being a successful racer, John has been a PVGP board member and a Competition Committee Director

In 2015, John attended his first meeting of the Vintage Motorsports Council (“VMC”) as our PVGP delegate. The VMC is a vintage racing trade organization that promotes the preservation of vintage racing cars in a wheel-to-wheel racing format.  Nearly all of the vintage racing organizations in the US and Canada belong to the VMC.

Never one to sit back, John impressed the delegates enough that in 2016, he was elected vice president of the VMC, and in 2018, he won the election for president.  John then served an unprecedented three two-year terms as president, finishing up in that role last year.

John was honored with the Dewey Dellinger Award at the 75th meeting of the VMC, which was held on February 22, 2025, in Indianapolis, IN.  This prestigious award, periodically awarded by the VMC, honors the memory of Dewey Dellinger, the first President of the VMC and founder of Victory Lane Magazine. To name just a few awardees – Syd Silverman (Road&Track), Steve Earle, Charlie Gibson, Ford Heacock, Gill Campbell (an internationally known race organizer), and the PVGP’s own Mike Connolly.  Needless to say, for John, this is a truly great honor.  He plans on placing the award in a prominent spot in his home.  And he is genuinely grateful to the PVGP for giving him this opportunity to serve.

About the PVGP
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix stands as the nation’s only vintage street race and ranks among the most significant vintage racing events in the world. Spanning 10 action-packed days, it features two thrilling race weekends alongside car shows, parties, parades, and motorsport events. Since its founding in 1983, the PVGP has been driven by its mission: ‘To stage a world-class vintage automotive race to raise funds to provide residential care, treatment, and support for individuals with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities in western Pennsylvania.’