Formula 1 maverick Eddie Jordan dies aged 76

Obituaries tend to paint a picture of their subjects as saints. But Eddie Jordan – who passed away today at the age of 76 after battling prostate and bladder cancer – was no saint. Although, at one time, he did consider becoming a priest. He was brash, controversial, ruthless at business, and unspeakably potty-mouthed. While he was no saint, he was a heck of a colourful character. A flamboyant man who brightened up the motor racing scene, both as a team owner and, latterly, a pundit. 

Jordan was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1948. He claimed that he had considered many professions early on – everything from the aforementioned priesthood to dentistry, but he ended up qualifying as an accountant and began life as a bank clerk in his home city. And while he ended up running with the big boys as a team owner in F1, some people might not be aware that he was a handy driver in his youth. 

While at a loose end, because of a banking strike in Ireland, he discovered the joys of motor racing and subsequently entered the Irish Kart Championship in 1971. He did pretty well, too: he took the title in his rookie year. By 1974 he was racing in Formula Ford, then moved to F3, but a crash at Mallory Park in ‘76 left him hospitalised. He recovered and got back to racing, but, as is often the case, ran out of money. So in 1980 he called time on his driving career and concentrated on running other talents in his Eddie Jordan Racing team. 

EJ had a knack of delivering quick cars and he was handy at spotting talented drivers, too. In the early days of F3 he ran David Leslie and David Sears, and by 1983 the Eddie Jordan Racing team was at the sharp end. For the 1983 British Formula 3 Championship his lead driver, Martin Brundle, secured six race victories against some Brazilian fella called Ayrton Senna. Senna ultimately won, of course, winning twelve times and amassing 132 points to clinch the title, but Brundle was a close second with 123 points. 

Eddie Jordan Racing eventually won the British F3 championship with Johnny Herbert in 1987, and by now, EJ’s ambition for his team had grown. It entered the F3000 Championship (at the time, the feeder series for F1), and with Herbert again pedalling, the team won the opening race at Jerez. In 1989, the team won the F3000 driver’s championship with Jean Alesi, proving this was a team on the up. By 1991, the Jordan F1 team was born, and EJ was a fully-fledged F1 team boss. 

This was a huge undertaking. Some would say stupid, even, bearing in mind the financial pitfalls. It seemed like it was done on a wing and a prayer and doomed to fail. But that was discounting EJ’s other great talent – perhaps his greatest of all – as the dealmaker. He did deals to have the money in place to set up a unit next to Silverstone, which would become the team’s permanent home, and kept on doing deals to keep things afloat in the years that followed. He was supported by Bernie Ecclestone, who would loan EJ money to tide him over, with Ecclestone seeing a kindred spirit in the jovial Irishman. 

EJ’s eye for driving talent never left him. He gave Michael Schumacher his F1 break in his team’s rookie year – although he lost him one race later to Benetton. That was the Jordan 191, which took the team to fifth place in the constructors’ championship. With its famous 7-Up livery, it was a beautiful-looking car, too, designed by Gary Anderson. That showed another of EJ’s talents: surrounding himself with talented people beyond just his drivers. 

The team’s second year was a struggle. EJ did a deal for a free supply of Yamaha engines that was a financial lifeline. Unfortunately, the engines were so fragile they almost needed a ‘Danger: High explosives’ sticker on the crates they were delivered in. Still, that didn’t stop EJ. By 1996 he’d signed a huge deal to have Benson & Hedges as the team’s title sponsor and a works engine deal with Peugeot. It took until 1998, however, for the team’s first win in F1. And not just a win, but a 1-2, with Damon Hill leading Ralf Schumacher over the line at Spa – a wet race and one of the most chaotic in the sport’s history. Jordan won races again in 1999, and were so competitive that Heinz Harold-Frentzen even had a late-season shot at the drivers’ title. The team finished a best-ever third in the constructors’ championship. 

The last win came in 2003, with Giancarlo Fisichella driving, but by then, the writing was on the wall for privateer teams in F1. The costs were getting too high to compete with the manufacturer teams. But even though the team was on its way down, EJ still managed to negotiate a lucrative buyout to the Midland consortium in 2005. Since then, his old team has been Force India, Racing Point, and now Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin team. Until last year, the team was still operating from the old Jordan F1 unit at Silverstone. 

Beyond owning a team, EJ’s deal-maker status saw him manage drivers, such as Herbert, Alesi, and Martin Donnelly, and, in a surprise revelation just last year, he masterminded Adrian Newey’s high-profile move from Red Bull to Aston Martin. He also forged a career saying sometimes incomprehensible things to F1 TV audiences and, latterly, as co-host with David Coulthard on the Formula For Success (FFS) podcast. He introduced himself on there as ‘The Growler’ and, with a cheeky smile and a faux naivety, said once: “David, I am worried because people have different expectations of what the word growler actually means.” 

The last episode he presented was only three weeks ago. He was grilling former Alpine Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer, about his time with the team. EJ was great value even without a guest on the show because he’d often launch into tales of his days ducking and diving and japes with fellow team bosses and drivers from the good ‘ol days. Jordan’s passions weren’t confined to the racetrack, either. A patron of several charities, including the child cancer charity CLIC Sargent, he was awarded an honorary OBE in 2012 for his philanthropic efforts. And his love of music and playing the drums meant he often took to the stage with some of the musical greats he counted as his friends. 

As we said, the man was no saint, yet that is the very reason Eddie Jordan’s departure leaves a void in the world of motorsport that few, if anyone, could fill. He is surely the last of a breed of genuinely charismatic F1 team owners. His legacy is not just in the trophies won or the drivers mentored, but in the spirit of daring and individuality he embodied. We bid farewell to a racing legend and remember a man who really did live life to the full in the fast lane. 

We loved the growler. Rest in peace, EJ.