Making a Way Out  By Andy Chu Orange Staff Writer

Christopher Escamilla, 36, is the founding partner and president of the very successful motorsports company named I-Speed USA. Escamilla credits the internet immensely in aiding the growth and current success of his company. 

Escamilla a native of San Jose currently resides in Oceanside California. Growing up in San Jose he is the eldest of two sons in his family. As a kid he was exposed to many sights all the other kids on the street could never imagine seeing. Every summer he would be sent out to work on his family farm in Austin Texas. Waking up at sunrise and working as a sweep boy in the local slaughter house isn’t quite a portrait of a Californian’s summer.

“I would be sweeping guts and random animal parts off the floor while my friends back home would be going to basketball camp and having fun,” said Escamilla.

Escamilla attended high school at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose. He participated in after school sports playing varsity basketball and volleyball. After graduation his studies lead him to Cal Poly San Louis Obispo where he earned his degree in environmental science.

“I remember when my old roommate back at Cal Poly asked me if I had an email address, I said, ‘what’s email?’”

Escamilla began his professional career working as a safety consultant for Applied Materials in Santa Clara. Several years in corporate America lead him to start thinking of his own entrepreneurial ventures. He always had a love for cars and his car at the time was a 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS, which was extremely rare and unknown to the motorsports world. The reputation of Subaru remained innocuous and the aftermarket support still needed to break out of the shell.

Through the use of the internet, he searched for other owners to see if any interest existed in the aftermarket industry. The group meets were small which only consisted of five people at a time. 

“The first Subaru meet in North America I was one of the five, we all found each other through an online mailing list,” said Escamilla.

Through the official Subaru owners North American Subaru Owners of America, or better known as Nasioc, greatly aided him in the infancy of his business. It also expanded his network for meeting potential clients and future business partners. The club meets brought him together with William Knose originally from Connecticut. They both would plan and draw up a business plan to get their vision rolling. 

“I never knew I would meet my business partner through a small online forum,” said Knose.

Escamilla worked his daytime job alongside starting up his business. Long hours at work would be followed by endless phone calls and emails. Soon the upkeep up his business would require his full attention and he left corporate America for good.

“I owe a lot of my success to the internet, it helped me market my business and cut out costs with our lack of resources at the time,” said Escamilla.

Now I-Speed USA is the leading developer and distributor of the most powerful and efficient aftermarket parts in the Subaru world. Their shop cars dominate races, they have corporate sponsorships and clients fly them around the world for consulting.

Lastly he said, “I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have the internet to network and communicate, it did a lot more for me than just looking up information, it changed my life.”

Related Links:
http://www.i-speed.us

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0403scc_subaru_gbd_wrx_engine/

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/archive/index.php/t-122585.html

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A class project by the students of Journalism 134, Online In-depth Reporting, Fall 2006, with Dr. Richard Craig.