Creative businessman, talent-spotter, raconteur, family man, the enfant terrible of Formula 1 team principals.
Eddie Jordan was a lot of things to a lot of people. But to one of the drivers that knew him best and who grew up professionally with him, he was a formative and pivotal mentor.
"I always thought Eddie was quite refreshing for F1 when he came in," Johnny Herbert told The Race today after Jordan's death aged 76 was announced.
"Particularly how he promoted his team and how he looked after all the people that were in his team as well.
"He had a real sense of family about him and that's not often recognised because he was such a larger than life character."
Thanks to Jeff Bloxham for images used in this article
Meeting 'The Force of Nature'
You tend not to forget the first time you met people like Eddie Jordan. The force of nature would sweep over you, usually punctuated by a machine-gun style fire of expletives.
For Herbert his first experience of 'Hurricane Jordan' was at the end of 1986 when "we did the deal together at the Grosvenor Awards on the back of a napkin for me to drive for him in 1987" in British Formula 3.
"One thing you could always tell with Eddie was he was very frustrated that he hadn't won the F3 championship as a driver in the late 70s," adds Herbert.
"That didn't quite work out for him, so he did the team ownership thing but he was always driven to win it as a team owner, as Eddie Jordan Racing."
Herbert achieved that for Eddie Jordan Racing in 1987 - beating two other drivers that Jordan subsequently ran in Formula 3000 and F1 in Martin Donnelly and Damon Hill in their Intersport Ralts.
"At that time, in 1987, you always felt there was something more, like that there was another journey he was trying to go on," reflects Herbert of Jordan.
"He knew getting to F1 was not going to be easy, but actually that was where he was very strong because he always had ideas of how he was going to get the sponsorship he needed to go to the next level."
The deal to end all deals
Perhaps the perfect manifestation of that came the following year when Herbert, Jordan and Reynard all made their F3000 bow at Jerez in the opening round.
In a plain white Reynard 88D-Zytek, Herbert took a dream-like pole position but amidst that the reality of having barely enough money to the second round dawned. Jordan's solution was direct and highly cheeky.
"Straight after qualifying Eddie phoned up Duncan Lee who managed all the Camel sponsorship money," says Herbert.
"Eddie goes 'you've got to be part of this, Dunc' and 'Johnny's the next big thing, and you can beat Marlboro'.
"Duncan told Eddie that the budgets are all gone, long gone, and he's sorry but he can't help.
"But Eddie is like a dog with a bone and is like 'no, no, you don't understand, this is the big one, we're going to go to F1 together and it will be fantastic'.
"Duncan thinks he's nipped it in the bud and says 'Eddie, I can't help you, sorry' and tries to put the phone down just to get some peace. But Eddie is relentless.
"Obviously tired of it all, Duncan goes 'alright, if he wins the race on Sunday, I'll have a meeting with you next Tuesday.'
"In the meantime, Eddie got this Camel sticker from somewhere - probably stole it - and cuts it out and sticks it on the sidepod.
"I went out and won the race on Sunday, the meeting took place on Tuesday and he got the deal for the next two years on Wednesday. Genius.
"That was Eddie always thinking outside of the box. He did that all the way through, even when he was in F1."
Herbert never drove for Jordan again after that devastating accident at Brands Hatch's Pilgrims Drop in August 1988 that defined the rest of his career.
But something not often reported is that Jordan, along with Adrian Reynard, helped their former driver with his insurance and rehabilitation costs as he fought to get to the opening grand prix of 1989 with Benetton at Rio.
And there were informal talks for Herbert to potentially be reunited with his old F3 and F3000 boss in F1 for 1994.
"I spoke to Eddie at the end of 1993 when I was really annoyed with my Lotus times," recalls Herbert, but that it "fizzled out", with Herbert staying put at Lotus and Jordan continuing with Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine into 1994.
Jordan on Drive to Survive?
Just imagine a 1991 spec Jordan being followed around the paddock for an early incarnation of Drive to Survive. It would be next-level box office and probably make Guenther Steiner look a bit anaemic.
Jordan's legendary bluster and chutzpah wasn't everyone's cup of tea but no one could deny that for charisma and having an eye for generating his and his team's own column inches he was a master.
"His larger than life persona sort of wasn't the F1 way even in the 90s," says Herbert.
"I think he sort of probably got people's backs up because this Irishman was loud and he's had a lot to say about situations within F1. He just wasn't the norm."
Could Herbert see Jordan as a Drive to Survive star had the phenomenon been around 30+ years ago?
"Yes, he'd have been fantastic and of such great value. He knew when to be serious but when to play up to the crowd too. He was no fool Eddie; he was deadly sharp when he needed to be.
"For me and many others Eddie was just so refreshing. There was always a wonderful imagination that Eddie had himself but that same wavelength went to the team too.
"Did he get the credit he deserved? No, but that was just because he wound people up in a way and he was often deemed to be a bit non-serious.
"But he was incredibly successful at leading a team from F3 to F1 in such a short space of time and for that I think he deserves a massive amount of kudos and credit."
Jordan's personal touch
Jordan the family man was a private persona but there are reflections of it on some of the drivers he worked with and allowed to flourish. Herbert was an early adopter of the Jordan environment.
"We went down to his villa in Sotogrande, Spain quite a few times in '87 and '88," he recalls.
"I used to play with his then young daughters Miki and Zoe, who were around at that period.
"The kids would sort of sit with me in the evenings, and they'd be putting my hair in rollers and putting beads in and all that fun stuff. The relationship I had with Marie and Eddie, and the two girls, looking back, was quite important.
"Eddie was very good for a driver in being able to feel part of the family. And I think that period was very important in terms of my early career. That's because I was good for him, producing the goods on the track, and it was good for me because he supplied me with what I needed, which was stability and a family feel. It worked really well."
Herbert also used to pretty much live in Jordan's Whittlebury home just outside of Silverstone where Jordan would be the most gregarious and generous of hosts for dinners and parties.
"Eddie was something else as a host, one of the greatest hosts you could ever come across.
"He was just the heart and soul of the party, but more importantly the family too."
