Ivo was born in Denver, Colorado. His acting career began in the early 1940s, with notable performances including Cousin Arne in I Remember Mama (1948), Joey in Prejudice (1949), and William Button in Plymouth Adventure (1952). Throughout the 1950s he remained a working actor in television and film, appearing as Shelby in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1955, and as Walter in Make Room for Daddy in 1958.
From 1959 to 1961, Ivo played Herbie Bailey on The Donna Reed Show, establishing him as a recognizable television face — a factor that would directly contribute to his "TV Tommy" nickname and the public interest that followed him to the drag strip. He continued to take guest roles through the early 1960s, appearing in Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Petticoat Junction, and several western series including Sugarfoot and The Tall Man.
The 1959 film Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow featured Ivo in a brief appearance as a dragster racer, reflecting the overlap between his celebrity status and his emerging racing identity.
Ivo's motorsport career launched in the late 1950s as a direct expression of his passion for hot rods. His first significant car was a twin side-by-side Buick Nailhead-engined dragster, notable as the first gasoline-powered dragster to break the nine-second barrier. The Twin Buick set the Drag News AA/GD elapsed time record at 8.69 seconds and was also the first gas dragster to achieve speeds of 170, 175, and 180 mph as Standard 1320 records. The car's unusual configuration made it a crowd attraction as much as a competitive weapon, winning numerous races including NASCAR's first National Drag Race.
Following the Twin Buick, Ivo designed a four-engine, four-wheel-drive dragster he called Showboat, powered by a quartet of Nailhead engines. The National Hot Rod Association ruled the Showboat the first "exhibition" dragster, barring it from competition — a classification that underscored both the car's spectacle value and the regulatory limits of that era.
In 1963, Ivo campaigned the Barnstormer, a nitro-burning 392 Hemi-powered slingshot dragster, which became one of only two seven-second Top Fuel dragsters in existence at the time. To mark the achievement, Ivo staged a Seven Second Match Race against the only other car in that class — the Greer Black Prudhomme dragster, driven by Don Prudhomme. Prudhomme won the encounter, but the event itself demonstrated the elite level at which Ivo was competing.
In 1964, Ivo traveled to England alongside Don Garlits, Tony Nancy, Dante Duce, and other leading American drag racers to participate in the First International Drag Festival, a six-event series that played a significant role in promoting the sport across the United Kingdom.
During the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Ivo attended 100 race meets per year — a record matched only by Jungle Jim Liberman and Ed McCulloch. He remained active on the circuit until retiring in 1982.
Ivo was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005, recognizing his drag racing career specifically. He was also ranked 25th on the National Hot Rod Association's Top 50 Drivers list covering the period 1951 to 2000.
His contribution to the sport extended beyond pure competition. At a time when drag racing was still building its mainstream audience, Ivo's television fame drew public attention to the sport and helped establish it as entertainment as well as motorsport. His willingness to build unusual, exhibition-focused cars — the Twin Buick, the Showboat — reflected an understanding that spectacle and competition were not mutually exclusive, and that public engagement was itself a form of promotion for drag racing as a whole.