ManuelCarrillo3

Living the Dream Manuel Carrillo III September 14, 2009 Determination, desire and success are three elements that drive Manuel Carrillo III’s spirit. Carrillo, 24, refers to himself as the “future number-one automotive journalist in North America”. The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona graduate says there is no reason to be anything else but the best. Carrillo always wanted to work with cars, but was inspired into the realm of automotive journalism in 2002 when he first saw the British television programs Top Gear and Fifth Gear. Carrillo was in awe with the skill Fifth Gear host Tiff Needell - a former Formula One driver - had in driving the wheels off cars of which he was presenting information. Carrillo was also impressed with Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson for his ability to add irreverence to automotive reviews. According to Carrillo, Needell and Clarkson took auto reviews to the next level, making them more like action movies rather than information pieces. “At the time I first saw these British car review shows, I was an aspiring automotive engineer, but in ensuing years when I thought about what guys like Tiff Needell and Jeremy Clarkson were doing, and I said to myself, ‘There’s no reason I can’t do that,’” Carrillo said. Cars and Carrillo’s name have often shared space in the same sentences since 1989 when he would draw numerous pages of renderings of his dad’s Porsche 911 S. In 1992 he began to read car magazines religiously. His first magazines ever were copies of Car and Driver, Automobile, and Motor Trend. By 1997 he was interviewed by KCBS-TV at the Greater Los Angeles International Auto Show for his uncommon expertise about the Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas in addition to other cars at the auto show. When Carrillo entered college, he wanted to choose a major that would allow him to work with cars. He was part of Cal Poly’s engineering department for almost two years with a desire to become a Corvette or Porsche engineer. By 2004, having been inspired by Top Gear and Fifth Gear, he realized he would be a better writer than an engineering data cruncher. He also acknowledged sharing his passion for cars would be greatly appreciated by other car fans. He soon changed his major to communication. “Engineering classes were getting to the point where I felt as though I was being trained to become a robot,” he said. “I thought of myself as too colorful a person to be subdued by something as dry as mathematics.” Carrillo began his writing career at Los Angeles radio station 97.1 (KLSX) the FM Talk Station in 2007. He helped cultivate the “voice” of the station by writing their on-air promos for station events and contests. He even wrote some of the station’s commercials, becoming part of an award-winning team of radio commercial writers. “Radio is my other passion and I used the medium as a springboard for my future success in broadcasting,” he said. “Despite the Industry for which I’m writing, every piece of writing experience gets me closer to becoming America’s number-one automotive journalist.”