Eddie Jordan, born in Dublin in 1948, is a former racing driver, team owner and entrepreneur known for his irrepressible optimism and energetic joie de vivre. A host of drivers owe their breaks to Eddie as a champion of young talent. Drivers who have won Grand Prix’s who have driven for Eddie include Hill, Mansell, Schumacher (Michael), and Senna, also becoming world champions, and Alesi, Barichello, Boutsen, Fisichella, Frentzen, Herbert, Irvine, Moreno, Schumacher (Ralf), Trulli and Watson.

Eddie’s unlikely introduction to motor racing came about when in 1970 as a bank clerk he moved to Jersey because of a Dublin bank strike, and there he experienced kart racing. Eddie returned to Dublin hooked, embarking on a driving career which saw him win karting and Formula Ford races. However winning the Formula Atlantic Championship sealed his long-term contract as a driver with Marlboro, which paved the way for races in Formula 3, Formula 2 and testing a McLaren F1 car (in 1979). Separately he drove in the World Sports Car Championship with Porsche and the Pink Floyd BMW car at Le Mans. Having suffered a number of major accidents Eddie retired from racing to set up his team in 1980 and began his now famous habit of finding young drivers and giving them a chance at success. Having given Senna his first ever Formula 3 drive in 1982 (which was later repeated with Damon Hill in 1985 - both to becoming world champions), he signed Martin Brundle to lead the team for the British Championship in 1983 in which they finished second. The team went on to be champions with Johnny Herbert in 1987. Jordan then moved up to Formula 3000 for the years 1988/89/90 winning races with Donnelly, Herbert, Irvine and taking the championship in the 1989 season with Jean Alesi.

Inspired by the success of his junior drivers, Eddie established Jordan Grand Prix in 1990 and entered F1. Throughout the 1990’s Jordan was the only team to really break the monopoly on F1 success held by Ferrari, Williams and McLaren. Rubens Barrichello secured the team’s first pole position and podium in 1994. Jordan landed a major sponsorship deal with Benson & Hedges in 1996 and this helped to attract ex-World Champion Damon Hill to the team. At the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher’s finish in first and second place made history, as Jordan Grand Prix became the first team in the sport to win its maiden F1 race with a 1-2. In 1999 Heinz-Harald Frentzen won the French and Italian GPs for Jordan and finished third in the World Championship. The team also won the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2003 with Giancarlo Fisichella and also remains one of only 5 current teams to have won multiple Grand Prix’s in the past 25 years.

Eddie sold Jordan Grand Prix in January 2005. Since then he has developed a portfolio of business interests and formed a rock band which has successfully recorded a number of songs and takes its name “The Robbers” from a remark Bernie Ecclestone once made about Eddie. In recent years Eddie has also had more time to nurture projects with his favourite charities: CLIC Sargent and Amber, as well getting involved with the Special Olympics. He made his TV-presenting debut with Channel 5’s “Bad Boy Racers”, a series which followed a group of young car crime offenders through a rehabilitation programme. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster and Dublin’s Institute of Technology. These were added to in France by being made an honorary Musketeer, in recognition of winning races in Nogaro, Pau, Le Mans and the prestigious French Grand Prix. He has also spoken at the prestigious Oxford Union is in his fourth year with the BBC with their coverage of Formula One. As well as being inducted into the Irish Motorsport Hall of Fame recently, Eddie has been awarded two prestigous awards in Ireland: the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society of the University College Dublin, the largest student sociey in Ireland, to hounour his outstanding contribution to motorsport in Ireland; and he received the Gold Medal of Honarary Patronage of the University Philosiphical Society of Trinity College, Dublin to honour his contribution to motoracing and his charity work over the years.

He and his wife Marie have been married for 35 years and have four children: Zoe, Miki, Zak & Kyle. Eddie’s interests outside motorsport include football, horse racing, golf (being a member of the Royal Dublin Golf Club), sailing (member of the Royal Cork Yacht Club) and music.