Tommy Byrne (racing driver)

Tommy Byrne
Born (1958-05-06) 6 May 1958
Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland[1][2]
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Republic of Ireland Irish
Active years 1982
Teams Theodore
Entries 5 (2 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 1982 German Grand Prix
Last entry 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

Thomas Byrne (born 6 May 1958 in Drogheda, but grew up outside Dundalk [1][2] County Louth) is a former racing driver from Ireland. He participated in five Formula One Grands Prix in 1982 with the backmarker Theodore team, but he failed to finish in any of them and scored no Formula One championship points.

After performing well in the Irish Formula Ford Championship in 1981, Byrne won the 1982 British Formula 3 Championship even though he missed some races while he competed in Formula One. At that time, he also tested a McLaren MP4/1 Formula One car in October 1982 against Marlboro-backed Spirit Racing's European F2 drivers like Stefan Johansson and Thierry Boutsen.[3] After a brief return to Formula Three in 1983, Byrne moved to the United States and began racing in the American Racing Series in 1986, where he won ten races in 55 starts, both second place in the series record books. He also was the championship runner-up in 1988 and 1989. He raced in the series until 1992 and then retired. Despite his extended career in the States, Byrne never made a Champ Car start. He currently lives in Florida, and teaches Honda Teen/Adult Defensive Driving, Advanced Defensive Driving, Acura High Performance and Acura Advanced Performance Driving during the race season at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. He is also a driver coach for Indy Lights team Brian Stewart Racing.

He co-authored a book with Mark Hughes which was released in the UK on 8 August 2008, titled Crashed and Byrned: The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw. The book won the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2009.[4]

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1982 Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY02 Cosworth V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER
DNQ
AUT
Ret
SUI
DNQ
ITA
DNQ
CPL
Ret
NC 0

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
first winner
Autosport
National Racing Driver of the Year

1982
Succeeded by
Martin Brundle
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Roberto Moreno
Formula Ford Festival Winner
1981
Succeeded by
Julian Bailey
Preceded by
Jonathan Palmer
British Formula 3 Champion
1982
Succeeded by
Ayrton Senna
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