Irene Marie's Blog

Irene Marie Models, NikkiPalooza Champions

Congratulations to the entire Irene Marie team for winning this year's beach volleyball tournament. The IM team played 8 games over a 2 day period and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. The entire agency family was there to cheer on our team including Irene herself. Pictures from the tournament are below:

NikkiPalooza 2008

Irene Marie Models will be competing in this year's NikkiPalooza. NikkiPalooza is an annual volleyball tournament between modeling agencies in South Florida. Last year Irene Marie took first place in the competition. NikkiPalooza will take place February 23-24, 11-4pm at Nikki Beach (1st and Ocean Drive in Miami Beach). Come out to support the Irene Marie team!

IM Sports' Jay Howard to race in IRL

Jay Howard, the twenty-six year old champion of the 2006 Indy Pro Series (IPS), has just signed a deal to drive for Roth Racing for the 2008 Indy Racing League (IRL) season. The IRL is best know for hosting the largest racing event in the world, the  Indianapolis 500.

Jay, born in Basildon, England, was racing mini karts on dirt tracks in England at age six. While racing professionally in Europe from 1997 to 2004, he accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments including:

1997 – TKM British Open Winner
1998 – ICA Championship Driver for Terry Fullerton
1999 - ICA British Open Winner
2000 - Third Place, British Formula A Open
2003 - United Kingdom Formula Ford Zetec Winner, 
United Kingdom Renault Winter Series Winner, BRDC Rising Star Honors
2004 – U.S. Formula Ford Zetec Winner

After moving to the United States in 2005, Jay continued racing professionally and the awards kept coming. In 2005, he was the U.S. Formula Ford Zetec Winner also winning Rookie of the Year and Series Record Breaker in addition to becoming the Star Mazda Winner in the same year.

In 2006, Jay added even more accolades to his resume by becoming the Champion of the IPS and Rookie of the Year by scoring the top points earned in the Series with 2 starts in the Pole Position, 2 Wins, 8 finishes in the Top 5, and 11 finishes in the Top 10 with 11 starts and 11 finishes. Jay’s stats for 2007 in the IPS are just as impressive with 2 starts in the Pole Position, 2 Wins, 8 finishes in the Top 5, and 13 finishes in the Top 10 with 14 starts and 13 finishes. 

To date, the strikingly handsome driver, with the British accent and iconic hair holds a record of over 100 wins (21 consecutive) and 50 pole positions.

Jay’s passion for the sport doesn’t end at the track, he also gives back to the community, donating his time at a camp teaching young racing drivers of the future the basics of kart racing.