INDIANAPOLIS 500: DAILY REPORT : Coroner Says Head Injury Killed Marcelo

Jovy Marcelo died of “a blunt head injury,” according to a Marion County, Ind., coroner’s report released Saturday after the Filipino driver was killed in a crash during practice Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“After examining Marcelo’s helmet and uniform, there were no marks or damage indicating Jovy was hit by a tire, suspension piece or any other member of his race car,” said Henry Bock, track medical director.

Mike Devin, United States Auto Club technical director, examined the car at the scene of the accident and said: “We found Jovy’s seat belts functional and tight. Follow-up examination revealed no pieces of the race car penetrated through the tub (driver compartment). All suspension pieces were accounted for. The left sidepod was basically intact.”

Funeral services for Marcelo will be held in Hillsborough, Calif., where he lived with his wife, Irene, and daughter Karsten. Jovy’s father, Edward Marcelo, said his son will be buried in his native Philippines.

“Jovy would want the public to know that it was his dream to drive in the Indianapolis 500,” his father said in a prepared statement. “More than himself, he wanted to represent his home country and all the race drivers from the Philippines. He expressed to me that he considered the Indy car community as one big family, a family he was very proud to be a part of.”

Rookie Brian Bonner qualified Saturday on his father’s birthday. “I’m around 60,” was all Jack Bonner would admit to.

“In my 10 years of motocross racing and my seven years of auto racing, he has probably only missed three of my races,” Brian Bonner said. “I couldn’t think of a better birthday present for him.”

One of the busiest jobs at the Speedway is that of the wall painter. Every night, after cars have left smudges on the concrete barrier that surrounds the track, they are painted clean for the next day’s racing. In 15 days of practice and time trials, 14 cars have crashed into the walls.