Edward Jovy Jacinto Marcelo (April 20, 1965 – May 15, 1992), better known simply as Jovy Marcelo, was a Filipino race car driver from

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, who was killed in an accident during practice for the 1992 Indianapolis 500.

Early career and education

Marcelo came from a racing family, with his father Edward ("Eddie") racing dragsters, motorcycles, and speedboats in Southeast Asia (mainly in Malaysia, the Philippines and Macau). He began his racing career at the age of 11 in

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

s. He studied in the United States at St. Mary's and at Armstrong College (Berkeley, California).

Career

Bitten with the racing bug, he pursued racing full-time right after graduating with a business degree. With the financial support of his father, Marcelo raced in junior formulas in the United Kingdom before moving to the New Zealand series. In 1990, Marcelo returned to the United States and competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship with Duane Anderson's team. Marcelo finished second in the championship behind Mark Dismore and earned the Rookie of the Year title. In 1991, Marcelo continued in Toyota Atlantic, replacing Dismore in Bill Fickling's P-1 Racing Team. Marcelo won races at

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, Connecticut, Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's thi ...

and Nazareth Speedway. Marcelo won the season championship, beating Jimmy Vasser by four points.

CART career

In 1992, Marcelo graduated to Indy cars. Marcelo had a pre-season test with Derrick Walker's Walker Motorsports, and earned a seat with the Euromotorsport team owned by Antonio Ferrari. Marcelo competed in three

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

PPG Cup events, finishing 14th in Surfers Paradise (Australia), 19th in Phoenix and 19th in Long Beach. (He did not score points in these events; CART points only awarded to 12th, plus pole and most laps awards.) In May, Marcelo was entered in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

driving a Lola T91/00-Cosworth DFS and participated in rookie orientation and practice for the event.

Death

On May 15, 1992, during warmups, Marcelo’s car snapped around at warmup speed and impacted into a concrete wall entering turn 1 at . He died instantly due to a blunt force head injury. It was alleged that Marcelo's helmet only had an anti-rotational tether strap on the left side of his head, leaving his head and neck vulnerable on the right (drivers subsequently wore them on both sides as a preventative measure; the

HANS Device A HANS device (head and neck support device) is a type of head restraint and a safety device in motorsports. Head restraints are mandatory when competing with most major motorsports sanctioning bodies. They reduce the likelihood of head or neck ...

was not mandatory until 2001). Marcelo was 27 at the time of his death. He died on the tenth anniversary of the death of Gordon Smiley, who died at the same track while attempting to qualify for the 1982 Indianapolis 500. Marcelo left behind his wife Irene, son Karsten, and an unborn son who was given the name Jovy Nicolai. Funeral services were held for him in

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlinga ...

before his remains were flown back to the Philippines. He was laid to rest at the Loyola Memorial Park in

Marikina Marikina (), officially the City of Marikina (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 4 ...

Legacy

Following his death, the Toyota Atlantic Championship created the Jovy Marcelo Sportsmanship Award, which is given annually to the driver who best exemplifies the sportsmanship of Marcelo. The First Jovy Marcelo sportsmanship award was presented to Bert Hart for the 1992–1993 season. He named his first son Jovy Kakoa Hart. Frankie Muniz won the 2008 IMSA Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Jovy Marcelo Sportsmanship Award.

Career results

Atlantic Championship

Complete CART results

References

External links

Profile on ChampCar stats
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May 2002 article from RacingPress.com

Rear View: Jovy Marcelo, 25 years on
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcelo, Jovy 1965 births 1992 deaths Filipino racing drivers Champ Car drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Sportspeople from Quezon City Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Indiana Filmed deaths in motorsport EuroInternational drivers Burials at the Loyola Memorial Park