NEW ORLEANS — U.K born, 36-year-old Jay Howard has been racing since the age of 6, and has competed now in two Indianapolis 500s. He resides full-time in Carmel, Indiana, but visits New Orleans once a month to help run his Motorsports Driver Development business at Nola Motorsports.
“We have created and this is something unique that no one else has done,” said Howard. “We can take someone literally that’s brand new to racing, get them their own go-cart, help them compete in the local club championships every month, we run a Nola club race. They can then advance in to our national race team, and they can then progress in to our Formula 4 team, which is the first step of open-wheel racing, the kind of guided step toward Indy racing.”
Fun fact: the West Bank is home to one of the finest training facilities for race car drivers. Howard and his team encourage you to check out Nola Motorsports if you have interest in learning how to compete in race car driving.
“It’s probably the nicest carting facility in North America, so that was definitely an attraction for me when I saw the facility, just felt like bringing my program to New Orleans would be something that would be good for everyone and so far it has its been great,” said Howard.
Unfortunately, Jay Howard did not win the Indy 500. Howard collided with Scott Dixon and was knocked out of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday by a terrifying crash that saw Dixon’s car fly over Howard’s car and land on top of the inside safety fence, where it split in two in a shower of sparks and flames.
That impact sent Howard across the track, but both survived the wreck.