Mel Fair was born in Homestead, Florida on the Air Force Base, but was raised in Sunnyvale and San Jose, California. After graduating from Bellarmine College Preparatory in 1982 he began working in the entertainment industry. His resume includes broadcast news-working for an NBC affiliate in Humboldt, California and the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith/Fayetteville, Arkansas. While at the later, he earned Associated Press honors as a producer, writer, sports anchor & reporter. Mel's experience extends to cable programming on ESPN and Spike TV as well. While at Spike TV, he earned numerous awards from the International Automotive Media as a producer, director, writer, host and reporter on top-rated automotive shows like TRUCKS! and Car & Driver Television.