For Immediate Release

Lou Santiago Scheduled to Appear at the 2010 Carlisle Chrysler Nationals

Host of Discovery's “Ultimate Car Build-Off”

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Carlisle Events is proud to announce the scheduled appearance of Lou Santiago, host of Discovery’s Ultimate Car Build-Off, at the 2010 Carlisle Chrysler Nationals. Ultimate Car Build-Off follows mechanics from all over America as they battle it out to build the most innovative vehicle and win US $100,000. It highlights the incredible design and fabricating abilities of the participants and demonstrates how their creative skills are pushed to the limit. Hosted by professional car builder Lou Santiago and North American Rally Champion Andrew 'ACP' Picard, the final project builds are showcased and judged by legendary car designer Chip Foose.

About Lou Santiago

Ultimate Car Build-Off host Lou Santiago is a former mechanic for Navy SEAL Team Eight and a hard-core street-machine fanatic.

Lou was born in 1963 in the Bronx, NY to Lily and Raul Santiago. His mother was an aspiring school teacher and inspired Lou to fulfill his desire for a college education. His father, a hard- core iron worker, taught him to work hard and helped to fuel his inner fabricator at a young age. His parents and two siblings later moved from the Bronx to Hempstead, Long Island hoping to achieve the American dream of suburbia. In Long Island, he graduated from Uniondale High School where he attended a two-year trade program in diesel mechanics with the Board of Cooperative Education Services, better known as “B.O.C.E.S.” He joined the U.S. Navy in 1981 where he lead a colorful career as a Seabee mechanic and traveled extensively. He now lives with his wife and three children in North Carolina.

While B.O.C.E.S. only added to his knowledge of car building, Lou had already begun his lust for car building at the tender age of 13 with his longtime friend and Mopar fanatic, Wayne Swanson. Their love for street racing with Wayne’s ’68 Dart with a 340 and later 383 with a 4-speed involved budget car building and creative fabrication. His Navy career only increased his desire for building really cool cars. His work required that he maintain heavy equipment and when overseas with parts sparse, the need for creative fabrication became invaluable. He took early retirement in 1997 when his wife became ill. After retiring, he attended Central Piedmont Community College earning an Associate’s Degree in Human Behavior and began working as a Behavior Management Technician at a school for children who had behavior challenges. To supplement his income, he began to teach himself how to build transmissions, brackets, roll cages and chassis.

His passion for car building again took the forefront in his life when Lou landed a job in 2005 on Spike TV’s Muscle Car. His time spent on Muscle Car only proved to the world that his love for his art was limitless. He spent many hours of blood, sweat and tears in front of the camera showing the viewers the “how to’s” of car building and then in 2007 he felt it was time to move home and reconnect with his family. Now Lou has a new home for his plasma cutter and it is called Garageinsidertv.com. He will be building some really cool stuff and showing the masses once again that you too can be a car builder extraordinaire!!

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Journalist note: Information about Carlisle Events, its event listings, auction offerings and the Carlisle Expo Center is available to journalists by phone:


Chris Hann
Director of Creative Services & Technology
717-243-7855 ext. 123
chrish@carlisleevents.com

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