Thomas Byrne (born 6 May 1958) is a former racing driver from Ireland. He participated in two Formula One Grands Prix in with the backmarker Theodore team, failing to qualify for another three. He failed to finish in either of the Grands Prix he started and scored no Formula One championship points.
Career 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. During this test, he set a time quicker than the works drivers, Watson and Lauda, despite the car being specifically detuned for him and not the other drivers at the test.(throttle limited to 80%)The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw: excerpt from Tommy Byrne's book After a brief return to Formula Three in 1983, where he raced for Eddie Jordan, 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 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 was also a driver coach for Indy Lights team Brian Stewart Racing.
Byrne 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. archive at Wayback Machine
Byrne was the subject of Seán Ó Cualáin's documentary Crash and Burn in 2016.
Racing record Career summary YearSeries1982Formula OneNCBritish Formula Three 1st1983British Formula ThreeNCEuropean Formula Three4th1983 Macau Grand PrixNCFormula Mondial North American Cup15th1984European Formula Three6th1984 Macau Grand Prix8thFormula Super Vee13th1985Formula Super VeeNC1986Formula 3000NCGT24thIndy Lights7th1987Indy Lights 3rd1988Indy Lights 2nd1989HFC American Racing Series Championship 2nd1990Firestone American Racing Series Championship13th1991Firestone Indy Lights Championship12th1992Firestone Indy Lights Championship10th2001Grand American Road Racing13thAmerican Le MansNC2002Grand American Road Racing 3rd
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 AUT SUI ITA CPL NC 0
Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 1983 Eddie Jordan Racing Ralt RT3 Volkswagen VLL NÜR ZOL MAG ÖST LAC SIL MNZ MIS ZAN KNU NOG JAR IMO DON CET 4th 35 1984 Anson Racing Anson SA4 Alfa Romeo DON ZOL MAG LAC ÖST SIL NÜR MNZ PER MUG KNU NOG JAR 6th 14
Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Points 1986 Eddie Jordan Racing March 86B Cosworth SIL VAL PAU SPA IMO MUG PER ÖST BIR BUG JAR 41st 0
American open wheel racing results (key) Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points 1986 Agapiou Racing PHX MIL MEA TOR POC MOH ROA LGA PHX MIA 7th 62 1987 Opar Racing PHX MIL MEA CLE TOR POC MOH NAZ LGA MIA 3rd 120 1988 Opar Racing PHX MIL POR TOR MEA POC MOH ROA NAZ LGA MIA 2nd 144 R&K Racing CLE 1989 Landford Racing PHX LBH MIL DET POR MEA TOR POC MOH ROA NAZ LGA 2nd 153 1990 Genoa Racing PHX LBH MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR DEN VAN MOH ROA NAZ LAG 13th 52 1991 P.I.G. Racing LBH PHX MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR DEN MOH NAZ LAG 12th 35 1992 P.I.G. Racing PHX LBH DET POR MIL NHA TOR CLE VAN MDO NAZ LGA 10th 44
References
External links Crash and Burn (a documentary about Byrne) at IMDb Profile at grandprix.com