Saladin Street Racers Shifts Gears for Kids, Community and Classic Parade Fun

If you've ever caught a parade in Western Michigan and seen a fleet of pint-sized, Shriners-branded cars zipping by – engines humming, kids waving, grown men grinning like they’re 10 years old again – you’ve probably seen the Saladin Street Racers. Behind those whirring engines and cheerful waves is a story woven from history, horsepower and a whole lot of heart. At the center of it all is Brian Carpenter, whose passion for cars and the Shriners’ mission has transformed a forgotten fleet into a beloved community tradition.

Their story isn’t flashy or filled with grand unveilings. In fact, when Brian and a handful of fellow Saladin Shriners first bought an aging fleet of parade cars around 2019, the vehicles had been gathering dust, handed down by Shrine clubs from one Michigan town to another until the last caretaker, well into his 80s, finally handed over the keys. It was the middle of the pandemic, and everything was messy, uncertain and kind of up in the air.

The Saladin Street Racers officially got off the ground in the fall of 2021. Those first few parades? Let’s just say they were heavy on enthusiasm, light on mechanical reliability. “A couple of cars broke down; it was rough,” Brian said. But persistence – and a lot of backyard repairs – kept them rolling. When the original president of the club stepped aside, Brian took charge, determined to make the group more than just a curiosity rolling by in a parade.

Cars have always been Brian’s thing. He grew up tinkering with anything on wheels – tractors, golf carts, old go-karts – and the Street Racers gave him the perfect excuse to keep doing it. But it’s the community response that makes the work worthwhile. At big events like the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan, where spectators pay for sidewalk space and grandstands fill up for miles, the Street Racers are met with cheers, applause, and the kind of excitement you can’t fake. People stand and clap, and kids rush to the curb for high-fives. “We never expected crowds to react like that,” Brian said. “It’s something special.”

The cars themselves are easy to spot: each one wrapped to look like a Shriners Children’s vehicle, similar to the ones from the commercials. This wasn’t always the plan – local sponsors used to cover the cars in their own logos, but Brian and the group decided they wanted people to recognize the Shriners organizations first. It’s cost them in sponsorship dollars, but it’s made the mission clearer, and a few supporters are happy to have their names on the trailer instead.

What makes the group even more meaningful are the stories behind the wheel. One of their youngest members, just 22, was a Shriners Children’s patient himself and now helps paint and drive the parade cars. Most of the bodywork and repairs are done in-house, and what used to cost over a thousand dollars, they now do for a fraction of the price, thanks to a member with a knack for fixing up anything with an engine.

The unit has grown to 11 cars – eight of them ready for the parade route, with the others in various stages of restoration and repair. There’s always a car being worked on: bodywork here, an engine swap there, a weld or a paint job. The group is a blend of old hands and new faces, each person bringing their own skills and stories to the mix. They even swept the top spots at last year’s Shrine Motor Corps obstacle course, with an 80-year-old driver taking one of the honors.

Brian’s own connection to the Shriners runs through family. After marrying into a Shrine family, he learned about his wife’s grandfather – a man who spent his retirement driving young patients to Shriners Children's, sometimes kids who had traveled from as far away as Ukraine and Russia after the Chernobyl disaster. Those stories stuck with Brian, and today, he finds himself carrying on the tradition, sometimes parading through his late grandfather-in-law’s hometown just to make Grandma smile.

It’s not all nostalgia, though. The best part for Brian is the sense of connection – between the Shriners, the crowds, the families they help and the legacy they’re building.
“For me, it’s the perfect combination,” Brian said. “I get to support Shriners Children’s, have fun with the fraternity, and be part of a unit that brings joy to crowds and makes a real difference. Out of everything I do, this is the most fun I’ve ever had.”

And every parade, every smile, every wave from the curb is proof that, for the Saladin Street Racers, the best rides are still ahead.