Eddie Jordan Remembered – by Brian Manning
The passing of Eddie Jordan at the age of 76 on March 25th this year led to a much deserved, world-wide outpouring of tributes and praise. EJ has been diagnosed with prostate cancer just over one year ago, that unfortunately metastasized to his bladder, liver and spine in rapid progression. He was still highly active up to a few weeks before his passing, recording his popular podcast ‘Formula For Success’ with David Coulthard and appearing on other media channels and in interviews. He had been recuperating in his winter home in Cape Town in South Africa when according to some reports, he came down with pneumonia from which he did not recover.
On July 8th a select number of Eddie Jordan’s closest confidantes, celebrities and colleagues gathered at Westminster’s Central Hall in London to pay tribute with prayers, songs and speeches. The weekend before there were more tributes at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and this weekend, Eddie will be celebrated by those he loved most, his Irish friends, family and fans at events at the RIAC on Dawson St. of Friday night and at the Carole Nash Historic Festival at Mondello Part at the weekend.
Many famous names will be making the pilgrimage to pay homage to Eddie including Formula One drivers John Watson, Derek Daly, and Martin Donnelly. Eddie’s partner on the FFS podcast, former Williams and McLaren F1 driver David Coulthard is also rumoured to be in attendance. Mondello Park will be opening up the museum to put some of their collection of ex-Jordan Grand Prix cars on display and a UK based running Jordan 195 will be live on track on both days. For the expected massive crowds at Mondello this weekend, the main attraction will be the appearance of FIA Formula 2 star Alex Dunne, and the tickets to his autograph sessions have already sold out.
After reading many of the biographies and obituaries that have appeared in the past months, it was apparent that, like a lot of things close to Eddie Jordan, the myth and the legend had often overtaken the truth, so it was out of total respect that it was decided to do a concise, but hopefully thorough, retrospective focusing on the Irish racing career of Eddie Jordan. This includes his involvement with the Leinster Trophy, a race he won in 1978 and also finished third in 1979, out a total of four appearances in the race from 1976 to 1979 (EJ was also entered in the Formula Ford 1600 races in the 1973 and 1974 Leinster Trophy race meetings.)
Eddie Patrick Jordan was born on Jordan was born on March 30th,1948, the son of Eileen and Danny Jordan. He had one older sibling, Helen. His father was the twin brother of a senior nun, the Mother Rectoress of the Irish Sisters of Charity. His parents first lived in Ranelagh in Dublin, but as an infant, Eddie was diagnosed with ‘Pink Disease’, the result of exposure to mercuric chloride, which at the time was ill-advisedly used as a disinfectant and topic antiseptic treatment. This caused heavy metal poisoning that was poorly understood at the time. The only course of treatment proposed by doctors was to move young Eddie to the more rural, seaside town of Bray in Wicklow south of Dublin to take the sea air. This change of scenery, and remove from the toxicological insult, had the desired effect and he gradually recovered. Although it is quite possible that the subsequent learning difficulties and dyslexia that he encountered in school were a result of neurological damage from his pediatric exposure.
The family later settled in Dartry in south Dublin, and Eddie was educated first at St. Anne’s in Milltown before going on to the tender mercies of the Christian Brothers at Synge Street school. By his own admission, Eddie was not a particularly noted student, but he did possess an almost preternatural ability with numbers, a skill that would stand to him well as he developed into a natural-born car-boot salesman in his early adult years. Many reports detail an early career plan to become a dentist, however there’s no evidence that he matriculated into Trinity College Dublin’s Lincoln Place School of Dentistry when he would have graduated Synge Street with his Leaving Certificate in 1966.
EJ did, however, undertake a short course in the College of Commerce in Rathmines in accountancy and through that, and probably the intercession of his aunt, he was admitted to the Hibernian Bank of Ireland and embarked on a career as a bank official. While he showed considerable aptitude for the banking profession, he also tried his hand quite successfully as a second-hand car salesman, and a hawker of other wares including carpet remnants and smoked salmon.
As has been well documented, EJ’s first encounter with the world of motorsport and speed took place on the Channel Islands, at the St. Brelade’s Bay karting circuit, on Jersey, during the 1970 Irish bank strike. EJ had decamped to Jersey during the prolonged industrial action by the Union of Bank Officials of Ireland from May 1 to November 17, 1970. When EJ returned to Ireland, he purchased his own kart and began entering events. In his autobiography “An Independent Man” published in 2007 EJ recalls his first forays into the Irish karting scene.
“Having got the taste, I was very keen to go racing when I returned to Ireland at the end of the bank strike. I had been posted to Mullingar, where I met Dennis Shaw, a solicitor with a practice in the town. We established the Mullingar Karting Club in association with the local council. Our ‘track’ consisted of a few roads with straw bales marking out the course and protecting us from lampposts and other potential hazards. It was very basic. No, it was worse than that – it was agricultural. If the safety people evident in racing today saw what we were up to three decades ago, they would have a fit. At the time, no one cared. It was huge fun because we were racing and the local population, for whom life in Mullingar was pretty still, loved the spectacle and the noise. And it cost them nothing. At first, I shared a kart with Dennis but we quickly realised we needed one each. I cannot remember the detail of the transaction but I bought mine locally. It was prepared for racing by Michael Tunney, who went on to become an outstanding businessman and, some 40 years later, remains one of my closest friends.
The trick was to have Alan Johnson tune the engine. Alan was known as ‘The King’ because he also won most of the races, but just being on the scene, having a kart and racing regularly was enough to qualify for a major championship event. That must have been the criterion because I was selected to represent Ireland at Heysham in Lancashire, despite not having achieved much in terms of results. It was at this event that I met Terry Fullerton, probably the only kart driver in the world who, ten years later, had Ayrton Senna’s total respect. Karting was a natural proving ground for young racers and many of the faces I saw and competed against at the time reappeared as I moved through Formula Ford and F3. There were some outstanding drivers, including Austin Kinsella and The King.”
EJ won the end-of-season championship race meeting that carried with it the title of Irish National Champion and the coveted “IRL” number plate. The following season in 1972, EJ suffered the first of what would turn out to be three major motor racing related accidents that would result in significant orthopedic injuries and trauma-related complications. EJ describes what happened in a karting meeting held at Monasterboyce, north of Dublin.
“One renowned karter, Barney, was famous not so much for his results as for the fact that he had one useable arm. The other was a stump with which he could do very little while driving. I do not know how he got a licence. In fact, I don’t think anyone ever saw his licence. Administration, if you could call it that, was fairly lax in those days. Despite this handicap, Barney was amazingly good. He was also a bit of a lunatic. On this particular day, he got bored with lapping in the same direction. So, without saying anything, he decided to go the wrong way, just for the hell of it. I was the one who found him first. It is one thing coming across another competitor who has spun and stalled in the middle of the track, and quite another suddenly to find someone coming at you, flat out. We collided head-on. It was an horrific accident and I came off worse. Barney had a few scratches but I had gone head-over-heels and was lying on the road with a big piece of bone sticking out of my left leg. There was no medical back up worthy of the name at the track, not that anyone could have done much on the spot. I was in a bad way. Someone took me to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda which, fortunately for me, is a really famous hospital. Normally, with a broken leg, everything would be set right, plaster applied and away you would go. I was detained for at least three weeks. I had a fairly serious compound fracture that became infected. I needed a couple of operations and, at one point, there was concern that I would lose an inch off my leg. My nervous system was affected and, as a result, I developed alopecia. Talk about a double whammy.”
EJ had developed Alopecia Arearta while undergoing heavy antibiotic treatments for his infected limbs and while this is often total, affecting the entire body leaving it hairless, EJ’s condition was confined to his scalp as he sported a variety of bearded looks throughout his life. His mother insisted that he would wear a hairpiece that became somewhat of a trademark. His recovery from his considerable injuries was slow and cost him the whole of the 1972 and the majority of the 1973 racing seasons.
In 1973 EJ purchased his first single-seater racing car, an old and somewhat tired Lotus 61 that he acquired from a driver in Northern Ireland who was glad to see the back of it according to EJ. It was in this Lotus 61 that EJ had his first outings in the Leinster Trophy race meeting and at the Phoenix Park Motor Races in September 1973. However, the car was non-competitive so he sold it on to another up and comer, Derek Daly for £400 and what was left of a Ford Anglia that Daly had raced in stockcar racing at Santry stadium. Once Derek, a skilled fabricator, had fixed up the twisted chassis of the Lotus 61, Daly would go on to be highly competitive in the car during the 1974 season.
EJ for his part, purchased a Crosslé 20F from Richard Parsons and set about a full race season campaigning in the highly competitive world of Irish Formula Ford racing. Going up against David Kennedy, Derek Daly, Bernard Devaney, Gary Gibson, Jay Pollock and others on a weekly basis was a big challenge but EJ equipped himself well culminating in a 10th place finish in the 1974 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and outings in the Leinster Trophy race meeting and the Phoenix Park Motor Races, all in the Crosslé 20F sponsored by Woodies. During the winters, EJ would also compete in rallying often in his inventory of lightly used cars, including a 2.0L V6 Vauxhall Viva and a Triumph 2.5pi.
It was with high hopes that EJ embarked on the 1975 racing season. However, the season would be cut short by the second of EJ’s major motor racing crashes at Mallory Park in England, that again caused significant orthopedic injuries to both his legs.
“Both legs were broken. One was at a horrible angle and the ambulance ride to the Leicester Royal Infirmary gave me time to consider that my racing career might be over. The irony was that I had finally got my hands on a Crossle 25F, a brilliant Formula Ford car that was allowing me to win a few races in England. However, being fast was one thing but, as I had just learnt, you also needed to be able to stop the car. Going into the hairpin at Mallory Park, I suddenly discovered that I had braking on the front wheels only. The brakes locked and I ploughed straight into the bank. No one was to blame. It was one of those things. The position of the brake pipe was a bit marginal at the point where it went into the back of the chassis. If the rear anti-roll bar was not done up tightly, it could touch the brake pipe, which is what happened. The pipe eventually broke and I had no rear brakes and two broken legs. I was in hospital for quite some time and it was clear that I would not be racing for the rest of 1975. The compound fractures to the left fibula and tibia were pretty ugly and the surgeons had to do some grafting. I did not want to tell my parents. When I rang home a few days later and my mother asked how I was keeping, I pretended that everything was normal. I was living in the home of Ian Smith, the treasurer of the Aintree Car Club, and it was several weeks before I told my mother what had actually happened. I was on the verge of giving up completely, my view being that I’d given it my best shot and had a pretty good time. I had damaged my legs and ankles before, so perhaps this was the point at which I ought to stop.”
But despite losing almost all the 1975 racing season, the idea of putting a permanent halt to his racing career was never a serious option and once again EJ found himself back racing. This time in Ken Fildes’ old “Encyclopedia Britannica” Lotus 69 that now gave EJ the opportunity to step up to Formula Atlantic, and in due course, Formula 3 racing. After two successful outings at the end of the 1976 season at the Leinster Trophy, which would be EJ’s first outing in the marquee event, and also at the Phoenix Park Motor Races where he would finish a highly creditable 6th place behind winner Tony Trimmer.
For the 1977 season, EJ stepped up to a more modern ex-Alan Jones March 74B chassis for a full out assault on the Irish Formula Atlantic Championship which by this stage was at its peak of popularity with full grids both sides of the border at Kirkistown, Mondello Park and the Phoenix Park. It was during the 1977 season that EJ also began his long association with Philip Morris and the iconic Marlboro cigarette brand that was attempting to make serious inroads into the Irish market. Eddie formed Marlboro Team Ireland with him and Vivion Candy. EJ would take the team to new heights over the coming seasons as he won the Irish Formula Atlantic title in 1978. After a 7th place finish in the 1977 Leinster Trophy in the March 74B, EJ would also take his only victory in the Leinster Trophy in 1978 in a Chevron B29. He also recorded his best ever finish in the Phoenix Park Motor Races with a third place in the Formula Atlantic race behind Harold McGarrity and Alo Lawlor.
Aamarrying Marie in January of 1979, EJ prepared for a full season of Formula 3 racing in England again with the backing of Marlboro and with Derek McMahon Racing that had just brought Derek Daly to the British F3 championship in 1977. EJ would take a 6-month leave of absence from the Bank of Ireland (who he now worked for) but he knew that the hiatus would soon become permanent. He would team up with Swede Stefan Johannson and the notoriety of the team soon starting paying dividends for Marlboro in terms of newspaper coverage in the Irish newspapers, despite Marlboro Team Ireland only making two appearances in Ireland in 1979, at the Leinster Trophy that was run as a non-championship round of the British Formula 3 series, and the Phoenix Park.
EJ and Derek McMahon Racing were instrumental in securing the appearance of a strong contingent of British Formula 3 runners at the Leinster Trophy and it was widely expected that either EJ or Stefan Johannson would win the coveted race in their newly acquired Toyota-powered March 793 cars. However, it would be Trevor Templeton who would take the victory in his outdated but very well Mondello-sorted Ralt RT1. Johannsen would have to settle for second place with EJ taking third. In the 1979 Phoenix Park Motor Races EJ would appear in a Derek McMahon run Chevron B49 in the Formula Atlantic Marlboro Grand Prix but he would fail to finish with a blown engine.
The following year, the British F3 runners would make a return visit to Mondello Park for the 1980 Leinster Trophy. Unfortunately, EJ in a ground-effect Ralt RT3, would have the third of his severe motor racing crashes, once again breaking his left leg when he went straight on into the Duckhams banking at the top of the circuit during Friday untimed practice. It took almost 1 hour to extract EJ from the wreckage and this for all intents and purposes put an end to his racing career. He was unable to take the start of the Leinster Trophy but was able to make a reappearance before the end of the 1980 season in England. Once again Trevor Templeton would win the Leinster Trophy in the same Ralt RT1 that he was victorious in the previous year. Two weeks before the Leinster Trophy, EJ would have his last outing at the Phoenix Park in a Ralt RT1 converted to Atlantic specification where he would equal his best finish of third place in the Marlboro Grand Prix behind Alo Lawler and Gary Gibson.
EJ would have one more serious competitive outing in the 1981 Le Mans 24 race in a Pink Floyd-backed BMW M1 entry with David Hobbs as co-driver. After a grueling race with only two drivers in record heat at Le Mans, the engine failed with less than 2 hours to run while the team were poised for a high finish.
At the end of the 1979 season, EJ formed what would become Eddie Jordan Racing. EJR would fully emerge on the scene in time for the 1981 British Formula 3 season and would go on to great things in Formula 3, F3000 and of course Formula One. The story of the rise of EJR is fully told elsewhere and does not require repeating here.
Of note for this readership are the number of former EFDA/Leinster Trophy competitors that raced in Ireland and got their start with EJR in F3000 including Russell Spence, Tommy Byrne, Martin Donnelly (three-time 3rd place in LT), Vincenzo Sospiri (1990 LT 1st place)
Jordan Grand Prix F1 drivers that appeared in the Leinster Trophy included Rubens Barrichello (1990 LT 3rd place) Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Bertrand Gachot (1986 LT 2nd place), Maurício Gugelmin (1984 LT 1st place), and Takuma Sato (1999 3rd place).
There’s no doubt that Eddie Jordan’s remarkable legacy will be appropriately celebrated this weekend. We send our sincere sympathies to EJ’s wife Marie, their children Zoe, Miki, Zak and Kyle and his many friends.
B.S.M. 2025
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