The Speedway 660 family was shocked and saddened to hear that one of our brightest young racing stars recently died in an industrial accident in Alberta. Jordan Gahan, a Pro Stock driver, will be dearly missed by his family, friends and our close knit racing community.
Good-Bye to Sweet #16
Jordan Gahan was just 21 years of age when he passed away. He was a member of the Speedway 660 youth movement and we all thought we would see him wheel a race car around his home track for many years to come. But life is fragile, sometimes even for young people, like Jordan.
But we’ll never forget the kid who always had a big smile come race day. It wasn’t that long ago that Jordan was just a little fellow sitting in the stands with his Mom Leica, cheering for his Dad Paul. From his earliest days at Speedway 660 Jordan dreamed of being a race car driver. He helped his Dad around the garage and likely sat behind the wheel of the 66 pretending to beat Dave O’Blenis, Shawn Tucker and father Paul to the checkered flag.
Lots of times our childhood dreams don’t come true, but in Jordan’s case they did. With a lot of help and encouragement from Mom and Dad he lived his dream and got to run in Speedway 660’s highest division. Building the race car was a school project and Jordan hit the track the first time in his big number 16 Pro Stock while he was still in grade eleven!
Jordan Gahan was a patient young driver. He knew how much work went into building his car, so he learned to take care of it. Jordan earned the respect of the other Pro Stock drivers too. When he first started racing, he didn’t hold them up when they were faster than he was and then later on he got to run bumper to bumper and door to door with our region’s best drivers.
Many of us believe Jordan was on the verge of stepping up his racing program and was ready to take it to the next level. But we’ll never know just how good he would have been. But we do know that he was a great young man, who was loved by his family and friends. He will be forever missed.
We’ve lost several members of our racing family during the off-season. In addition to Jordan Gahan, “Smokin” Joe Albert passed away. Jack Lane, who raced against Joe and the other Street Stockers for many years also died during the off-season. We also lost Gary Arbour, another popular former Street Stock driver and Richard McArthur, who raced stock cars long before Speedway 660 opened and in recent years the primary sponsor for Shawn Tucker.
It won’t be long before the snow melts and we get ready for the 2014 racing season. We’re going to miss Jordan Gahan and at this time all of the members of the Speedway 660 racing family send our sincere condolences to Leica and Paul, the rest of the Gahan family and all of Jordan’s friends.
The Gahan Racing Team has decided to continue racing in 2014 and dedicate the upcoming season in memory of Jordan. Paul will run Jordan’s number 16 on his Pro Stock machine.
Jordan’s family request that all donations made in Jordan’s memory be made to Bar None Kids Camp (Bridges of Canada)
Visitation will be Friday March 21st from 2-4pm and 7-9pm at the York Funeral Home, 302 Brookside Dr. Fredericton.
Funeral will be Saturday March 22nd, 2pm at the Journey Wesleyan Church, 131 Duncan Lane, Fredericton.
The Ramada Inn has set aside a block of rooms at a reduced rate in memory of Jordan for those attending the funeral service.
