Howard was the 2005 US Formula Ford Zetec champion. He competed in the 2006 Indy Pro Series for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, claiming the title in his rookie season over Jonathan Klein and Wade Cunningham, earning two victories at Nashville and Kentucky and seven total podium finishes. He made three starts for SpeedWorks at the beginning of the 2007 Indy Pro Series season but was inactive for the rest of the year.
Roth Racing announced on 26 November 2007 that they had signed Howard to drive their second car for the 2008 IndyCar Series season. Howard was hired on merit and talent and did not bring sponsorship to the team. The team was subsequently presented with a sponsorship opportunity tied to another driver, and Howard was replaced in the No. 24 Roth Racing entry by John Andretti for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Originally announced as a one-race arrangement, Andretti continued in the No. 24 car at the Milwaukee Mile and Texas Motor Speedway, then at Iowa Speedway and Richmond International Raceway, before Howard returned for the Watkins Glen International road course race — his last with the team.
Howard began the 2009 Indy Lights season for the rookie outfit Team PBIR. He competed in five races before being replaced by paying drivers Pablo Donoso and Richard Philippe for the remainder of the season.
Howard was announced in late 2009 with SFR for four events — Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course — with Kansas Speedway added in March 2010. On 14 April, Howard joined team owner Fisher as the first entrant for the 2010 Indianapolis 500, celebrating the 100th anniversary of English drivers competing at the speedway. Howard unveiled his No. 66 Service Central paint scheme at Kansas Speedway on 21 April. With minutes remaining before the gun fired for the 33-car field, his entry was withdrawn under pressure from next-in-queue veteran driver Paul Tracy. On 10 October, Howard won the RoboPong 200 all-star kart race at New Castle Motorsports Park alongside teammate Bill McLaughlin Jr., beating Will Power and Graham Rahal, among others.
Howard signed with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in association with Sam Schmidt Motorsports to race in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 and the twin races at Texas Motor Speedway. He successfully qualified for the Indy 500 on pole day in the twentieth position. He crashed out after completing sixty laps and was credited with thirtieth place. Two weeks later he finished fifteenth and twentieth in the twin races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Howard was announced on 23 April 2012 as driver of a Mike Shank Racing entry for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500. On 2 May 2012, MSR Indy relieved Howard of his duties after an engine deal had not materialised.
After a four-year absence from the Verizon IndyCar Series, Howard returned for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 in a car financed by Tony Stewart and Sam Schmidt.
Howard returned to Sam Schmidt Motorsports and competed in the 2018 Indianapolis 500 for the second consecutive time with the team.
In 2012, Howard founded Jay Howard Driver Development (MDD) to create a program taking drivers from karts to cars and up the motorsports ladder.
In the karting field, Howard drew on experience from the British Karting Championship, Indy Lights, and IndyCar to coach drivers of all ages, initially focusing on drivers already competing at national level before expanding to club-level work, primarily at NOLA Motorsports Park. In 2016, MDD coached drivers to two national championships when Braden Eves won the World Karting Championship in Italian American Motor Engineering X-30 Senior and Yamaha Senior. MDD also accumulated multiple wins in the SuperKarts! USA Pro Tour and the United States Pro Kart Series. In January 2017, Howard launched the MDD Sprint Kart Championship series at NOLA Motorsports Park.
In 2017, Howard entered four cars into the second year of the Formula 4 United States Championship under MDD. Rookie driver Braden Eves obtained second at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after only one day in the car. Through the first round of the F4 United States Championship, Howard had eight drivers compete in the series.
In a national promotion with MTV and American Family Insurance, Howard served as driver coach for music-obsessed teen Lauren Goodell during autumn 2009. Commercials were filmed on 12 and 13 October at Mid-America Motorplex in Nebraska, first airing during MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge on 28 October 2009. A fifth installment aired during the mtvU Woodie Awards on 4 December 2009. Howard is represented by BRANDed Management agency, founded by Klint Briney.
Howard married his longtime girlfriend Courtney Nicoson on Saturday, 29 October 2011 in a private ceremony in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jay and Courtney live in Carmel, Indiana, with their son Hudson. Howard was the subject of the cover story for Carmel Monthly magazine's May 2021 issue.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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