Tessa Salazar of the Philippine Daily Inquirer files this report.

Excerpt:

Philippine racing legend Pocholo Ramirez died at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.

He was 76.

Ramirez earned driver of the year awards six times. In 2000, he was the Blaze Super Saloon Champion at the age of 68.

Even after being diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer two and a half years ago, he still competed in local races. Up until he was 75, Ramirez would still be seen behind the wheel competing with racers less than half his age.

Some fans of the racing legend have expressed their condolences.

FOR the first time, a team of Filipinos have completed the longest race in North America, the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by the U.S. Air Force.

Gaby Dela Merced, Robbie Montinola and Angelo Barretto co-drove the Team Castrol-STR BMW M3 to a 6th place finish in class and a 12th place finish overall, out of 68 racecars.

After qualifying 3rd place in class, the team started the race off strong and developed a solid pace to keep the car intact for the 25-hour race.

Driver changes went flawless, pit stops were excellent and the Team Castrol-STR strategy was working well. Only one unscheduled pit stop was made during the first half of the race and all the drivers drove great stints. As the race reached darkness, thick fog began to roll in and the race was stopped due to the dangerous conditions. The race resumed around 5 a.m. and it became an all out sprint to the finish.

“The fog was unfortunate, we had a strong car at night with very capable drivers and I felt we would pull away during the dark,” said Montinola. “Overall, the car was great and the Team Castrol-STR crew did an amazing job. It was a close race to the finish and I believe we can win next year.” [Read the rest of this entry »]