Edward Jovy Marcelo was a Filipino race car driver from Quezon City, Philippines, who was killed in practice for the 1992 Indianapolis 500.
Background
Jovy 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). With the financial support of his father, Marcelo raced in junior formulas in the United Kingdom before moving to the New Zealand series.
Education
Marcelo studied in the United States, at Saint Mary"s and at Armstrong College (Berkeley, California).
Career
Jovy Marcelo began his racing career at the age of 11 in go-karts. Bitten with the racing bug, he pursued racing full-time right after graduating with a business degree. In 1990, Marcelo returned to the United States and competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship with Duane Anderson"s team
In 1991, Marcelo continued in Toyota Atlantic, replacing Dismore in Bill Fickling"s P-1 Racing Team.
In 1992, Marcelo graduated to the CART Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Cup. 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 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company 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 driving a Lola T91/00-Cosworth Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and participated in rookie orientation and practice for the event.
On May 15, 1992, during warmups, Marcelo’s car snapped around at warmup speed and impacted on the right side entering turn 1 at 172 mph. He died instantly due to a basal skull fracture under the right ear. lieutenant 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 vulnerably exposed on the right (whereupon drivers subsequently wore them on both sides as a preventative measure.
The HANS Device was not mandatory until 2001).
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.