Last March, NSU’s car club Street Sharks hosted its first car meet with a turnout of 120 cars. Almost a year later on Jan. 6, the car club hosted its biggest event to-date with 726 cars and more than 1,000 participants.
In car meets, car enthusiasts can build a community and present their cars to each other. The meets can sometimes be dangerous if people are irresponsible, like if drivers raced through parking lots.
Street Sharks host a meet at Ashley Furniture in Davie on March 25, 2022. COURTESY OF BRANDON NEAL.
Alejandro Santana, sophomore biology major and president of Street Sharks, said he hopes to grow the club even more under his leadership by changing the bad reputation of car meets, known to be dangerous because of the power of automobiles.
“We want to show that car shows aren’t bad, and that they can be formal,” said Santana. “There can be laws in place, and we want to see people have a good time.”
Austin Chatoori, junior professional studies and biological science major and vice president of Street Sharks, added that the community shares a passion for cars.
“At Street Sharks, we try our best to provide safe and proper car meets and events for everyone to enjoy together, hopefully impacting the car community in a positive way,” said Chatoori.
Santana wants to make Street Sharks not just a safe but also a welcoming environment.
He said the club has an opportunity to show the NSU community there can be safe and legal ways to enjoy being a car enthusiast.
The car meets usually take place at NSU’s AC17 general parking, but as the club grows, more events will be held in the Mailman parking lot.
“We usually fill up the lot with 125-175 cars,” said Chatoori.
Street Sharks provides two police officers to help maintain safety at every event, which includes music, a food truck, opportunities for photos, as well as people giving advice to one another about their cars.
Chatoori said the club built a family and community at NSU because of members’ initial passion for cars that helped build connections as well.
Santana also said the club wants to grow its membership engagement collaboratively.
The club has communicated with other car lovers, such as Miami Infinity, Car Meets Miami and Street Racing Made Safe, which are other groups that have similar goals and passions.
Street Sharks’ biggest car meet to date was on Jan. 6 at Tropical Park in Miami, Florida, in collaboration with Street Racing Made Safe. The event was sponsored by V&V Upholstery Supplies, and there were food trucks, music and 1,000 participants.
Santana said that the car meet at Tropical Park encouraged Street Sharks to be determined and find ways to never stop its dream of expanding its meets and having fun while being safe. “We realized we did that, and we have the potential to do something great,” said Santana.
For more information, visit Street Sharks’ Instagram @nsu.streetsharks for upcoming events.
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