Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Marit Everett
Edmund Patrick Jordan was an Irish businessman and motorsport team owner. But when it comes down to it, Eddie Jordan was just a motorsport fan, just as passionate, if not more, than the next person.
The Belgian Grand Prix podium, or the podium of any race for that matter, is usually backed by the sound of the British, German or Italian national anthems, with wins from teams such as McLaren, Mercedes or Ferrari. But in 1998 Amhrán na bhFiann rang out across the Ardennes at Spa Francorchamps, as Jordan Grand Prix drivers Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher stood on the podium, first and second.
It happened again in 1999, in Magny-Cours, France, and for the third and final time to date at the temple of speed; Monza, in Italy. While three Grand Prix wins for a constructor puts Jordan nowhere near all-time status, it meant so much to a relatively small country of under four million people at the time.
Jordan’s success gave people back in his home country of Ireland something to get behind, something to unite fans of the sport, new and old.
Before Jordan Grand Prix’s foundation, an Irish person in Formula One wasn’t something on people's minds. Rarely was Grand Prix racing even a topic of conversation in Ireland, but in 1991 when Eddie Jordan set up the team bearing his name, people began to talk and interest peaked.
Even for fans of the sport before Jordan Grand Prix was set up, an Irishman in F1 seemed like a fairytale. Surely no one from this small economy could manage to make it to the top level? That was the view for most sports in the country; the narrative of, ‘we can’t make it to the top’. An Irishman through and through, Jordan destroyed that narrative.
Jordan had a clear eye for talent. In the team's inaugural season, Jordan put his trust in a 22 year-old German racer for the Belgian Grand Prix. After impressing in the Jordan, despite retiring from the race, Micheal Schumacher then went on to race for Benetton and Ferrari, and win seven world titles between the two. Jordan Grand Prix also saw drivers such as Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine, Damon Hill, Jean Alesi and many more Grand Prix winners take to the wheel.
Jordan’s legacy on the Irish motorsport scene didn’t go unnoticed, as he received the James Joyce award by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin (UCD) and the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin. Both awards are given to those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field, for Jordan this was motorsport. He was also given freedom of the city of London in 2021.
There is no doubt that Jordan can be considered one of the most influential, if not the most influential, figures in Irish motorsports history, and is well respected by all within the Irish motor racing community. For that reason, there was immense sadness and distraught across the community when, in late 2024, Jordan announced he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of bowel and prostate cancer.
On the 20th of March 2025, at the age of 76, Eddie Jordan passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, in their home in Cape Town, South Africa.
Jordan’s undying passion for racing will live on in the hearts of many on the Emerald Isle, who will be sure to write his name in history, so that the name Eddie Jordan never truly dies.
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