MHS car fanatics taking over the parking lot

The loud exhaust generated as students put the pedal to the metal in the school parking lot is

n’t anything new.

Some find it absolutely ridiculous, and some make an effort to drive like every road is a dragstrip.

If we track this “recklessness” to its roots, however, there is a certain type of crowd who does not drive because they have to, but because they enjoy it.

The new release of the C8 Corvette this month has got the gears turning, literally, on a topic, a group of people more-so, that is rarely touched on here at Milford High: car fanatics. The same people who enjoy driving a stick shift because according to Will Sjrogren, “They’re a lot more fun and easier to drift.”

To someone who is not a car fanatic,, this may seem weird; Slamming a stick into different slots to do something almost all cars nowadays can do automatically seems pointless.

No matter the person though, every time there is a cool new car in the parking lot or super loud engine noise passing through downtown Milford, it turns heads.

At Milford there are a lot of different “sub-groups” of car people. We have the “Truck crowd,” the “Tuner crowd,” the “American Muscle crowd,” and we have the “Jeep crowd.”

Obviously, this is can be oversimplified, as one person might love vehicles from multiple groups, but all of these students have a passion.  So it begs an answer to the question: What got all of these students so into cars?

Now, some may have read “tuner” and wondered what it means, so to simplify it, it’s someone who tunes a car. Tuning a car involves playing with the ECU, (Engine Control Unit) to get as much power out of a vehicle as possible.

Nick Barthold has a stage 2 tune on his BMW 335xi M sport, as well as a muffler delete, making it almost as loud as possible, while getting as much power as possible out of the factory motor.

Barthold got into car culture from his “need for speed,” not in cars, but “it really started with dirt biking with Josh Wilbur,” according to Barthold. Thus, showing how diverse the car community here at Milford High is.

Not everyone cares about speed though. Jeeps are  about as far from a fast car as you can get. These large off-road beasts have big tires and heavy bodies.

Yet all the hardcore jeep people here seem to intermingle with the car community. Jake Miller got into car culture because he, “always loved cars and really started hanging out with the car crowd,” even though he has a purpose built, rugged, off-roading  jeep, the pull toward the faster, louder cars is still there. In fact, earlier this year he claimed that, “the new Corvette is absolutely beautiful, and whoever designed it needs a raise.”

People enjoy driving trucks for their practicality, and what they “symbolize” as a whole, The hard work, the rugged workhorse.

Josh Wilbur drives an absolute mammoth of an F-150 and boasts that, “it has best in-class towing.”

Going back to the loud exhaust note, he has installed a Corsa exhaust system on his truck, boosting power and sound quality.

The loud exhaust is desired  for a car person, especially to someone who has “been into cars since day one” and can’t quite describe the pull he feels toward cars.

Wilbur is into American V8’s that can throw down all of their horsepower through the wide, rear tires, making them perfect donut machines.

V8’s, The American muscle car is what many come to think of as “The fast car” and if not that, then “The loud car.”

Cameron Whitney drives his Dodge charger 345 Hemi because he “drove a truck and it just wasn’t enough,” as the need for speed took over.

Every single time his car enters the parking lot, or drives past the lunchroom window, students all know it’s Whitney. It has that unique Hemi (Dodge’s V8 line) sound that cannot be mistaken for anything else.

Although he may be the only one who actually drives a loud V8, a common occurrence between all of these people is that a car is owned for fun, not just commuting.

Even in the eyes of our school Police Liaison DeLanoy “increased horsepower is great,” obviously for different reasons than what many may use that horsepower for, but it still proves the same point.

All cars, new and old, are appealing as long as there’s a big block under the hood, and a loud exhaust out of the back; whether it’s the new C8 Corvette or an old Foxbody Mustang, students love driving a car with might.

All of MHS’s diverse car culture speaks the same language, and that language is horsepower.