This is an opinion article.

In many ways, car culture is seen as a hooligan’s passion. What the world sees is a bunch of high schoolers or adults that never grew up—a bunch of people illegally street racing and causing danger to others. A loud minority of car people bring tons of negative attention to the car scene. However, dig a little deeper and what is found is a thriving culture of self-expression.

Car culture is a conglomeration of personality that cannot be defined by a set of characteristics. This is because car culture, at its heart, is an example of individuality. Car culture and car enthusiasts are no different from any other passion, or culture. The way this beautiful bundle of people gathers around one thing can be related to just about anything.

Art, in its traditional sense, is a wonderful way to understand why so many people put countless hours into a physical object that may have no relevance to anyone else but themselves. Just as an artist sees a vision in their pieces, a car nut will spend hours just imagining or visualizing the next step in his or her build. Imagine telling an artist “it’s just some color on paper.” Just as paper is a painter’s canvas, the vehicles many people see as transportation are a car person’s canvas. This is the reason you never want to tell a car person “it’s just a car.” Car people are a different breed, that cannot be argued. But fret not, for we are just people, and we will talk about other things besides cars.

Everyone has a different story as to how they came to love cars. Personally, speed and cornering were introduced to me as a baby. My father has been a car enthusiast most of his life and his father before him so it was natural he would transfer that passion to me. At the ripe age of zero, I was given car toys and would play for hours building tracks in my room for my cars to race on. I was hooked before I could even talk. From the time I could walk, I was taken to Laguna Seca, one of the best race tracks in the world. I was bombarded with the sight of the cars seemingly defying physics, the smells of gasoline and burning rubber, and last but not least, the sound. The roaring engines so loud it shakes your whole body. These things stuck with me. One could say this was my true introduction to the world of racing and cars. I was in love. I raced go-carts when I was eight, and raced motocross at ten. I was so lucky to have parents that would support such a time consuming and obnoxious hobby. As I grew, I developed my own tastes, finding my niche in the massive world of cars.

Car culture extends to every type of vehicle with four wheels. Whether it is stance (lowered cars with excessive camber), track days, full-fledged race cars, off-roading, or even just appreciating your daily driver on a level most do not, it does not matter. All things on four wheels have a place in the car world. The passion expressed in countless ways is a thing of beauty.

This culture is vibrant with its own artforms, and goals. However, it is not without troubles. Constant bashing from those who do not see eye to eye with each other is one of the biggest issues. “Hate in the car community” as said by automotive journalists the world over is the best way to describe it. Thank you Gears and Gasoline. You can see this hate at every car show/meet. Someone is proud of their car they have spent time and money on and there will always be “that one guy” who seems to put everything and everyone down. Side note, these people often don’t have a car.

But at the end of the day, the positives far outweigh the negatives and to anyone with a car you care about deeply, you are a part of car culture. No invitation needed.