The Automotive Enthusiasts Club has been on campus for less than a year, but they already have big plans for the future.
President and co-founder Reilly Neel said the purpose of the club is to bring together all automotive enthusiasts in the community. He and his fellow officers echoed that same sentiment. According to them, all enthusiasts are welcome: Fords and Chevys, classics and clunkers, bikes and go-carts. Anything with an engine.
“We’re trying to encompass everything from work trucks to premium cars. Anything goes,” Neel said.
Hailey Bodewig, the vice president and co-founder of the club, said cars have been a passion of hers for as long as she can remember.
“I was that kid that had Hot Wheels. No Barbies,” Bodewig said.
Bodewig’s love for automotives directly translated into her studies. Now, she majors in architecture with hopes to one day design aerodynamic cars.
The mentality of inclusiveness goes beyond just cars. Members like Billy Drury, the treasurer, rev a different kind of engine.
Drury’s choice of automotive interest lies with go-carts. His current ride is a stock Honda 125cc 2-stroke with six gears. It took him $8,000 to put it together, which he said runs on the cheap side.
“I’ve seen in a day millions of dollars in go-carts at shows,” Drury said.
Drury said he got into racing go-carts professionally one month after riding his first cart.
Beyond the cars and the engines, the club also offers other means of involvement in their club. Club photographer Sophia Curet said she loves cars just as much as the next member, but the club also allows her to follow her interests in photography. At the car shows and highway cruises the club participates in, it’s Curet’s job to take as many pictures as possible. She said at some events, she takes more than 500 photos. For an upcoming event that has been months in the making, Curet said she expects to take thousands.
The event, titled the Kibbie meet for the time being, is still in early planning stages.
An ambitious process for a young club, the event will see somewhere between 300-600 cars, trucks, SUVs and other automobiles parked in the Kibbie Dome.
The Kibbie Meet is planned for spring 2019, Bodewig said. The entire public will be welcome to attend.
Bodewig said he and his fellow club members are prepared to entertain attendees from across the Western United States, inlcuding states like Arizona.
According to another co-founder, Derek Allan Peters, the projected cost of the event will be $4,000. The club is meeting with several businesses, including Allstate, looking for sponsors to help pay for the event.
Hunter Diehl can be reached at [email protected]