Hundreds of millions of cars travel on America’s interstates, highways and country roads every year. Thousands of car clubs meet nationwide to rev their engines and discuss their vehicles. There is only one Auto Enthusiast Club of LSU, though.
The Auto Enthusiast Club of LSU consists of 16 members who meet weekly to talk about automobiles and drive to car shows throughout Louisiana. Every Thursday at 9 p.m., the University organization drives to the Walmart parking lot on College Drive to join other Baton Rouge natives, eager to show off their cars.
In 2015, physics senior Robert Cottingham was among the club’s original members, and he sees the Auto Enthusiast Club as part of a larger car subculture.
“We’re not anything like Fast and Furious,” Cottingham said. “Our idea of a good Saturday is going to a car show as we all drive in a little pack on the interstate. We go there and all park next to each other in a row and take a couple of pictures. We just enjoy the culture.”
In addition to the weekly meetings, the Auto Enthusiast Club attends car shows throughout Louisiana, such as Import Face-Off. The University organization joins other local car clubs in attendance at these shows.
“When you go to these car shows, there is the show aspect and then there is the race aspect,” Cottingham said. “People go on the quarter-mile dragstrip and race in bracket racing.”
The Auto Enthusiast Club has plans for a bright future. Currently, members pay no dues and receive no funding from LSU Student Government. In addition to growing their presence on campus, the club hopes to fundraise to support their trips to car shows and support the University’s Society of Engineers in their Formula SAE competitions. The Society of Engineers joins college students around the nation to design, build and race a racecar in Formula SAE competitions every year in Michigan and Nebraska.
Business marketing sophomore Thomas Hakim sees the Auto Enthusiast Club potentially fundraising enough to buy a club car.
“We are thinking about starting to fundraise for possibly raising enough money for a club car,” Hakim said. “We could bring it to shows and show off LSU.”
The club emphasizes its all-inclusive nature. Many local car clubs focus specifically on a single brand of automobiles, while the Auto Enthusiast Club opens its doors to anyone with an interest in cars.
Mechanical engineering freshman Jacob Billeaud is in his first semester with the club.
“The guys that are in the club have the same interests as me in terms of cars and all that,” Billeaud said. “It’s cool to be able to talk to people about that and not bore them.”
Just a group of people hanging out and talking about their cars. That is exactly what the Auto Enthusiast Club wants to be.
“We are pretty much into anything related to cars,” Hakim said. “We play racing video games, and on weekends, we come together to play around on engines.

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Isabella Allen

The LSU Auto Enthusiast Club meets on Thursday, March 1, 2018, at the Wal-Mart parking lot on College Drive.