I HAVE been following intently the careers of our Filipino racecar drivers, in the hope that one day, a Filipino will be able to reach the pinnacle of motor racing which is Formula One.
More than 10 years ago, we had a Filipino driver named Jovy Marcelo who became the first Filipino to race in the Indy 500 after winning the Toyota Atlantic Championship. Unfortunately, his life was cut short by an accident during practice in 1992.
Now, we have Tyson Sy trying to blaze a trail in the Star Mazda championship, a competitive open wheel driver development series that produced current Torro Rosso F1 driver Scott Speed and IRL driver Marco Andretti.
In the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland last June 9, Tyson Sy finished sixth out of a field of 30 young racers, 11.003 seconds off the lead car after qualifying an excellent sixth the day before.
I hope Tyson would continue with his good performance in this series, and I look forward to the day when a Filipino driver would stand on the top step of the podium in F1.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
The normal progression for current race car drivers would be from F3 or GP2 they move on to A1, then on to F1 before finally winding up their careers in Le Mans, World Touring Car or in Nascar (thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya, this has become fashionable and a good alternative for the older drivers).
Who knows? Maybe a Filipino driver might make Nascar sooner than anyone thinks.
July 4th, 2007 at 7:35 am
For the past three years I’ve been following stock car racing (NASCAR) and hoping that someday I’ll be able to watch Pinoy driver competing in oval racing.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Jovy Marcelo was quite good behind the wheel. Too bad they didnt have the kind of safety equipment that drivers today are using especially to protect the neck area. Maybe he would have survived the crash.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:38 am
[...] Sports Aficionado: Filipino racer makes it to Top 6 in Portland [...]
June 19th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Being a motorsport fan myself, i share the same hope that in my lifetime I will see a Filipino step up into the podium someday.
Anyway, just a little bit of additional info on Jovy Marcelo. Did you know that during the time he was lording over the Indy series his greatest rival at that time was no other than Juan Pablo Montoya - who was only running second to him. So if that unfortunate accident didn’t end Jovy’s career, we could have seen the very first Filipino running the F1 series and who knows, we could have had our very first Filipino Formula One champion.