MANILA, Philippines - Jose "Pocholo" Ramirez, Jr., long acknowledged as the "Living Legend" of Philippine car racing, died early Wednesday after two years of battling cancer. He was 76.

The bearded racecar driver left behind a family of racers in sons Jose Andre (Kookie), Georges, Louie, Miguel and daughter-in-law Menchie. He has a grandson who now races regularly at the Subic International Raceway, a racetrack Ramirez himself built right after the Americans left their Subic Naval Base in the early 1990s.

Ramirez's remains lie in estate at the Christ The King Church in Green Meadows, Quezon City. According to his son Kookie, there will only be two days of wake for their father. A private ceremony will be held before the remains are cremated on Saturday.

The only son, Ramirez grew up in Manila during World War II, learning to drive by borrowing the jeeps of the American soldiers who passed by their house on Taft Avenue.

As a young man in the 1950s, he went to New York to work as a hotelier for Waldorf Astoria. It was in the United States where the racing bug bit him. He came back to Manila in the 1960s and met Arsenio "Dodjie" Laurel who lent him a go-kart and influenced him to take racing seriously.

His early career saw him joining the Shell Car Rally which Laurel himself pioneered. He won this on-time-all-the-time rally in 1966 as team captain of the Renault squad.

Read More