Former team boss: Schumi promoter and Formula 1 legend: Eddie Jordan died

He was a sponsor of Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, the most dazzling team boss of Formula 1 – and is considered the inventor of the pit luder. Without a doubt, the history of motorsport would be poorer without the eccentric Eddie Jordan. At the age of 76, the Irishman has now died of the consequences of cancer in the early morning of his loved ones in Cape Town, as his family unanimously announced, according to the British media. Jordan fell asleep peacefully.

“With his inexhaustible energy, he always knew how to make people smile and always remained authentic and brilliant,” wrote Formula 1 on the platform X: “Eddie was one of the protagonists of a Formula 1 era and we will miss him very much.”

“Dark days” by cancer

Jordan, also known for his pointed beard and the shrill outfits, had only made it public in December that he suffered from prostate and bladder cancer and that the disease then spread further. “It was pretty aggressive,” said Jordan in the podcast “Formula for Success” and talked about “a few very dark days”.

Jordan, who is actually called Edmund with a real first name, is the former team leader and team owner of the racing team of the same name. He was Schumacher’s first boss in Formula 1 in the early 1990s. The later record world champion drove his first and only race for Jordan in Spa-Francorchamps in 1991.

Schumacher receives the Jordan cockpit from emergency lie

“Who, damn again, is Schumacher?” Asked the charismatic Jordan when the manager Willi Weber then proposed the future superstar as a replacement driver for the Grand Prix in Belgium. On August 25, 1991, the later series winner actually completed his first World Cup run, which, because of a defect, ended unhappily after a defect.

This was only possible through an emergency lie. Weber said Jordan that the then 22-year-old knew the legendary course in the Ardennes. But that wasn’t right. “For this reason, I grabbed a bike to drive a few laps there and I immediately realized what fantastic route this is,” said Schumacher later.

Only with this trick and a lot of persuasion by Weber did the Kerpener got the cockpit from Bertrand Gachot and was allowed to go to prison behind the steering wheel of Jordan 191.

Jordan wrote countless Formula 1 stories

As a driver, Jordan himself was active in the lower formula classes, celebrated some victories and was even allowed to test a Formula 1 car from McLaren. “I used to have the dream of becoming world champion, but then I got to the point at which I knew I couldn’t do it as a driver,” said Jordan once.

So he became the head of his own team. In one of his cars, the later PS icon Senna drove its first Formula 3 kilometers in 1982. After a few successes, Jordan finally ventured into Formula 1 in 1991. As a racing team operator, he developed creative methods for money procurement. Supposedly, the bailiffs kept giving him tips in good time before they came to the garnishment so that he can disappear.

Frentzen won two races for Jordan

Jordan experienced fat years in the racing series. He secured lucrative sponsorship deals, threw shrill parties. Before the team garage, slightly dressed women strut around, including a certain Katie Price. They attracted a completely new attention. For Jordan, world champion Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and a number of Germans drove. He hired Ralf Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock.

Jordan had an eye for talents. In total, the team reaches four Grand Prix victories, two of them through Frentzen 1999. But with the burning of money of the factory racing stables, the father of four children could not keep up. In 2005 it was over, Jordan sold his shares. But even later he could not leave the racing series and became a TV expert at the BBC. There he caused laughter with mocking comments before he retired more in old age.

Jordan encourages men to prevent

A few months before his death, he encouraged men in the joint podcast with the former vice world champion David Coulhard. “Don’t push something like that on the long bench, but let yourself be tested! There is so much help out there to extend your life. Don’t be stupid,” said Jordan. There is also no reason to be ashamed of examinations or visits to the doctor, but you should always be good with your body.

He had made his serious illness public because the former Bahnrad legend Chris Hoy inspired him. The six -time Olympic champion from Great Britain had taken the public with his diagnosis of prostate cancer in October 2024. “It’s similar to mine, but he is a much younger man,” said Jordan about the 48-year-old. According to his doctors, Hoy should only have to live for a few years.