Jovy Marcelo fatal accident at Indy 500 (May 15, 1992)
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, Philippines, who was killed in practice for his first the Indianapolis 500 1992.
Marcelo, who was taken from his car unconscious, was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital when resuscitation efforts failed, according to Dr. Henry Bock, the speedway's director of medical services.
Marcelo died from severe head and chest injuries, Bock said through a spokesman.
Marcelo is the first driver to die at this track since Gordon Smiley hit the wall head-on during practice in 1982. The last death at the Speedway occurred in the 1987 race, when a spectator was struck by a tire that had come off one car and was hit by another car. Marcelo is the 40th driver and the 65th person over all to die from injuries at the Speedway since it opened in 1909. Spinning Into Wall
On a warm and sunny day at the Speedway, Marcelo's car, a year-old Lola-Cosworth, did a gradual spin entering Turn 1 and hit the outside wall with the nosepiece and left front. The car slid to a stop in Turn 2, with most of the nosepiece and the left front suspension off the car.
Marcelo is the third driver to be seriously hurt at the Speedway this month. Nelson Piquet of Brazil, a three-time world champion, suffered serious injuries to his feet and ankles in a crash on May 7. Two days later, Hiro Matsushita of Japan broke his right leg in a crash.
Marcelo, whose full name was Edward Jovy Marcelo, was married with a 4-year-old son. He was a resident of Quezon City, the Philippines, and had a degree in business management from Armstrong University in Berkeley, Calif.
Last year, he won the Toyota Atlantic championship, a steppingstone series for drivers looking to compete here.
About Jovy Marcelo
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-karts.
Marcelo studied in the United States, at St. Mary's and at Armstrong College (Berkeley, California). 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 and Nazareth Speedway. Marcelo won the season championship, beating Jimmy Vasser by four points.
In 1992, Marcelo graduated to the CART PPG 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 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 driving a Lola T91/00-Cosworth DFS 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.[citation needed] 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 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). Marcelo was 27 at the time of his death, left behind his wife Irene, son Karsten and with an unborn son at the time who was given the name Jovy Nicolai.
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.
