Written by Lauren Simmons // Photo by Morgan Pickering
The HU Car Club started its engines full throttle last week with meet-ups and cruises to begin the new semester. The club scheduled future meetings every Sunday at 3 p.m. for the foreseeable future in the parking lot behind the Benson Auditorium.
The group began last fall when sophomores Morgan Pickering and Ethan Tucker came to Harding as freshmen and discovered a shared love for cars. Tucker said their goal was to find new friends on campus with similar interests and do fun things every weekend.
“We both wanted to start a car club because we didn’t know any other car people on campus,” Tucker said. “I have met a lot of great people, and we are still close friends to this day. The one thing we all have in common is cars. Everyone is a little different, but we can all agree on that.”
The duo created an Instagram page and began advertising the club in hopes that more car enthusiasts could join. Sophomore Sam Brown was one of the first to join the club after he saw a flyer in Harbin Hall. Brown said his interest in cars began over the summer of 2020 when he got his first car while stuck at his house due to COVID-19 social distancing.
“We all click pretty well,” Brown said. “Having that common interest makes it easy to become friends.”
The car club held approximately five meetings last year, according to Tucker, the vice president of the club. The meet-ups usually last around an hour, Tucker said, while the members and new guests talk about different cars and car-related topics. After that, the group piles into their cars and goes for a drive.
“Every meet, we try to go on a cruise around some of the backroads around Searcy in the country,” Tucker said. “Those are really fun to go on as well. We just find abandoned backroads that nobody drives on, and it’s really fun to drive on those.”
Sophomore Sadie Hoffner, the treasurer of the club, said that her favorite part of the club was getting to know different people as well as learning more about cars.
“I have been introduced into a very new, different world of culture through some of its members,” Hoffner said. “Specific people I never thought I would ever meet or have the chance to connect with are there to connect over the world of engines, speed and fun. It’s a surprising way to connect to different people from different styles of life and connect through one purpose.”
The car club’s members have taken steps to make the club officially sanctioned by the University and said they hope to see more car enthusiasts in the future.
“We just want it to be bigger,” Brown said. “We want a tight-knit community that is willing to help out other people who need things. You can build each other up and foster that community and have fun. … If you are into that kind of thing, even just a little bit, we want you to come hang out.”
The HU Car Club members said they welcome all car enthusiasts – with or without a car – to join. Details on future events can be found by following @hu_cc_ on Instagram.
