Girls Like Cars Too!

The sound of revving engines and tire squeals could not drown out the excitement from students at Salem Church Middle School who gathered to witness the first Cars4Girls Zoomie Cruise-In. 

This event was a collaboration between Cars4Girls, a student-led organization, and Girls and Gasoline, a local car club for women in the Henrico area, who were connected through Start 1 Spark. 

More than 40 vintage and exotic cars were showcased at the cruise-in, courtesy of Start 1 Spark, which also provided trophies for students to award their favorite vehicle.

Addison Pittman, a seventh grade student at Salem Church Middle School, led the push to establish Cars4Girls, a club focused on connecting girls with an interest in cars.

“I feel like it started off when my dad started racing,” Pittman said.”My grandparents have done racing for a while too so I started liking cars more and more.” 

Pittman shared that the motivation for starting the club originally began with a dream to compete in NASCAR,  but developed into getting girls to learn more about cars and grow an interest in motorsports. 

“I want to try and help everyone and basically make a team that can help with motorsports,” Pittman said. 

Start 1 Spark connected Pittman with Nickie Armstrong, founder of Girls and Gasoline—a group Armstrong launched after witnessing women’s cars being credited to their boyfriends or husbands at car meets.

“Girls have some really cool cars too,” Armstrong said. “We decided to found the group, Girls and Gasoline, four years ago and we have over 1600 members across Virginia.” 

Armstrong acts as the primary organizer and tool for the club at Salem Church Middle School to plan and host events.

“Honestly, I wish something like this existed when I was younger,” Armstrong admitted. “It’s been really awesome to see the girls come out of their shell and get to explore all things automotive in a safe space because that’s really what it’s about.” 

In the future, Armstrong hopes to continue partnering with Cars4Girls to drive home the mission of women in automotive spaces. 

“It comes down to inspiring the next generation and giving them that safe space to explore the automotive world,” Armstrong said. 

Nicole Munden, a member of Girls and Gasoline, developed a passion for cars while growing up around vintage vehicles and spending time in the garage with her father.

Growing up surrounded by 1987 Ford Bronco and a 1972 Chevy Impala, Munden’s love for cars extended into her adult life and the reason she wants to support other women and cars. 

“My passion started to develop in middle school so the fact that we’re able to support other middle school girls and show them that women can be in the car community and that they can be engineers, race car drivers and anything they want is really important to me,” Munden said. 

Munden hopes that she can serve as a resource and inspiration to other young girls who may be looking for support in their passion. 

“I would love to show students and the community that you can have all these nice things,”Munden said. “Your dreams are always within your reach if you’re willing to work for them.” 

Growing up, Michelle Bryant often watched her father and brother restore old Fords in the garage even though, she recalled, women weren’t “supposed” to be interested in working on cars. 

Bryant, a proud member of Girls and Gasoline, was also a former student of Salem Church Middle School. 

“Coming from back in the day when girls weren’t supposed to like cars, I would have loved to have this when I was at school,” Bryant shared with a laugh. “I think it’s really awesome that it’s awesome that a partnership exists between my old school and cars.” 

The students presented two awards at the end of the meetup; Popular Vote and Cars4Girls Choice Award to a local couple with matching BMWs in emerald green and hot pink. 

Start 1 Spark hopes to continue working with Cars4Girls at Salem Church Middle School and bringing similar opportunities to other partnership schools during the next academic year.