Eddie Jordan was born in Dublin on March 30 1948. He began his career as a banker but a strike in Dublin in 1970 saw him seek employment in Jersey during that summer. There he had his first kart race and was immediately addicted. A year later he was Irish Kart Champion. In 1974 he entered in FF1600 and later moved onto Formula Atlantic where he won three races in 1977. The following year he won the Irish Formula Atlantic Championship.
1979 was to be an important year as he progressed to Formula 2. Later that year he decided to try his hand as a team manager when he set up Eddie Jordan Racing. In 1980 he gave up driving to concentrate on the management side of motor racing. He moved steadily up the ranks and his biggest triumph came when Jean Alesi claimed the Formula 3000 title in 1989.
Jordan now yearned for a fresh challenge and decided to step up to the top table of motor racing in 1991(Formula1). At a time when new entrants went out of business almost as soon as they began competing Jordan used his charm to stay competitive and in 1998 Jordan GP gained its first victory when Damon Hill won in Belguim. To put icing on the cake his teammate Ralf Schumacher came home in 2nd spot.
The following year HH Frentzen won two races for Jordan and they finished 3rd in the constructors championship. The next two years were to prove an anticlimax as the team again slipped back into the pack but the end of 2001 showed signs of improvement again. Eddie Jordan has always succeeded in any form of motorsport he has attempted so don't be too surprised to see an F1 Constructors Championship coming Jordan Gps way in the near future.
Eddie Jordan's unique brand of charisma and risk taking has gained him much publicity and helped to keep the team afloat in the early years. Jordan's biggest risks have often been the introduction of young, inexperienced drivers into his team but invariably the chance has paid off.
It was Jordan who gave world champion Damon Hill his start in F3000. While there he also gave debuts to Johnny Herbert, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Ricardo Zonta. In F1 he introduced Alex Zanardi, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella(he previously had 3 races for Minardi). But perhaps his biggest triumph was the introduction of the Schumacher brothers (Ralf and Michael) to Formula 1. Michael has since gone on to become arguably the greatest ever driver in Formula 1.
On thing is for sure, as long as Eddie Jordan is involved in F1 the sport will always remain as unpredictable as ever. |
