At a glance
The Mid-Ohio 200 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) will take place Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 7721 Stream Corners Road, in Lexington. Gates open at 7 a.m. Tickets (including admission to Friday’s practice) can be purchased for $55 through midohio.com or $60 at the gate. career is Formula 1.
Although Byrne possessed a wealth of talent and drive, he had little money — and Formula 1 competition takes money. For a while, though, his determination overrode his lack of education and working-class roots.
Moving up the ranks, he became a double Formula Ford 1600 champion in 1980, a British and European Formula Ford 2200 champion in 1981 and a British Formula 3 champion in 1982 — getting paid to drive almost every race.
“I was either very good or very crazy,” he said. “I was very ‘something.’”
In 1982, Byrne crossed the threshold into Formula 1, driving for a season of five race starts, but he didn’t finish any of them. In racing circles, he said, he was pegged as a cocky womanizer with a wild streak — and, as such, apparently wasn’t well-liked by Formula 1 owners.
“I certainly wasn’t a ‘yes man,’” Byrne said. “And if I had been, I wouldn’t have won anything.”
So, just as quickly as Byrne rode onto the scene, he was gone.
He moved to the United States in 1983 and drove in other competitions, but his dream of being a Formula 1 champion eluded him — not for lack of skill but for lack of money and a clean-cut persona, in a sport that demanded both.
“He fell foul of the politics (of Formula 1),” said Sean Kelly, Formula 1 statistician for NBC in San Diego. “If he was in any other sport, he would have been everybody’s hero.”
Still, Byrne is considered a hero by many at Mid-Ohio and is no longer taking his racing history personally. He feels a joy at Mid-Ohio that he never felt while driving professionally, he said, even on the fastest of Formula 1 tracks.
“I only ever used to drive for money. Now I get to drive for fun.”
At Mid-Ohio, Byrnes’ word on racing is highly valued — a stature earned from his experience, considered “second to none” by Sonny Gee, director of Mid-Ohio and a close friend of Byrne’s.
“He takes this really seriously,” Gee said. “It means a lot to him. He just shines here.”
Co-worker Bert Hart agreed.
“Tommy makes me feel normal,” Hart said. “He is a really good guy and a hell of a driver.”
Byrne said he has let go of the resentment he once felt over his Formula 1 fate, accepting with gratitude his life filled with mountain biking (his new favorite hobby), coaching and time with Meyers and his children.
“I am so happy, you know. ... It doesn’t matter what happened. If I had to do it again, I would do it for laughs.”