Jordan Gahan is described by friends as a hard worker who went out west for a better job.

Gahan was only a few weeks away from moving home to Fredericton when he died in Firebag, Alberta on Friday.

His brother says he fell through the ice while operating heavy equipment.

“He lived life to the fullest every day,” says his brother Josh Gahan. “One thing he always strived for was to be like dad, or better than dad. That’s what took him to Alberta, to be an operator like dad.”

Like his father, Jordan Gahan was best known for his love of racing.

“My dad started racing a number of years ago,” his brother adds. “Jordan was always involved hands on. He would come into the pits before he was old enough. He looked old enough, he’s tall. He would come into the pits and he wouldn’t just stand around and watch us, he was part of the team.”

The racing community that’s now mourning his sudden death.

“His whole life was race cars,” explains Gahan’s friend, Brent Roy. “He grew up around his dad, Paul. He raced stock cars up and down there at Speedway 660, years and years, so it was in his blood.”

Roy has always driven race car number 26, but he says he’s going to trade that number in for number 16 - Jordan’s number.

“We said we’d get to race together once I got to Pro Stock,” adds Roy. “That’s not going to happen now. But this year we’re going to run number 16 in his memory.”

Most memories involve the race track and the love Gahan had for the sport.

“First time he came back from the track in Grade 12 he was always talking about the race track and his dad,” says friend Jake Bryden. “I remember him coming back to me and talking to me at school and saying, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, kind of thing. It was his passion. It’s what he loved to do.”

“Last year he got his first podium finish,” adds his brother Josh. “The smile on his face would light up the world.”

A smile his brother says family and friends will hold onto in the difficult days to come,

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ashley Dunbar