Ben Kuleshov, a 19-year-old journalism major from Holmdel, bought his first car, a little red convertible, a few years ago and has been into cars ever since.

“I love everything about cars – I like the modified look of the car, the style, the mechanics of it and have enjoyed being a part of New Jersey’s very active car community.”

That car community includes car lovers from around the world who meet in parking lots and share the unique attributes of their vehicles with the greater car community. These groups park their cars, talk about cars, make friends and work on cars together.

“I’m part of a car club called Elusive Jersey, and we host car meets with other groups and host charity events, sometimes with celebrities. I hoped to find a similar car club on campus, so I could be more involved in student life, and realized there wasn’t any, so I decided to start one.”

Kuleshov said the response has been more than he hoped for. After contacting Student Life and finding advisers for the club, he made some posters and hung them up around the campus. He also shared it on social media.

“I mean, I started advertising yesterday, and I’ve already gotten 20 or 30 responses of people who want to join.”

While the initial responses so far appear to be mostly male, Kuleshov wants to stress that everyone is welcome and that there are women in his other car clubs.

“Sometimes women may be intimidated by a club that’s mostly guys, but when someone really likes cars, there is no barrier. In fact, in the car scene there are no boundaries – rich, poor, gender, ethnicity. Everyone comes together and enjoys the meetups, the races and the camaraderie.”

Kuleshov, who drives a 2002 Mazda Miata, hopes to share his love and knowledge of cars with the Brookdale community through this club.

“Brookdale has a lot of parking space on campus and the plan for the club is to run charity events on campus, maybe include some celebrities, where lots of cars participate. I hope the club can maybe host a show where nicer cars come and compete for prizes and include a charity raffle.”

Kuleshov also hopes to do trips with the car club members. Possible choices include Wall Township speedway, Englishtown raceway, or maybe just a track day.

“I also want to take the club to car meets run by my crew and other crews. Like in Belmar, there are car meets that happen near the water. Everybody parks by the beach, and the students can get a taste of the social side of the car scene. As the Brookdale Car Club we can all park together, hang out and meet the car community.”

For more information about joining the Brookdale Car Club, contact Ben Kuleshov at: [email protected]