William Hill - Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes

Crashed and Byrned is the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008

Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes has today been named the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008 following a presentation in Dublin.

The book details the story of Tommy Byrne from Dundalk, and his controversial career in motor sport. From a poverty-stricken childhood in Dundalk to becoming the only racing driver that Ayrton Senna ever feared and how it all went wrong when he was so close to the top of world motorsport.

Byrne’s tale is one of the great untold stories of Irish sport. He depicts his tough battle to the top and his spectacular fall from grace when for a brief period he was arguably the world’s greatest driver. The book goes into every harrowing detail of Tommy’s life from his fame in motor sport, to his drug problems, driving for a billionaire madman and working for gun-toting Mexicans in the 1990’s.

Tony Kenny, William Hill PR manager for Ireland, said, "This is a fantastic story from start to finish and is one of the best sports books you will read. To win when up against such a strong shortlist will show everyone how good the book is. The judging panel felt the book displayed a level of honesty that many books fail to reach and it was a story which everyone with an interest in sport and further afield deserves to hear."

Journalist Mark Hughes, who wrote the book with Tommy, was delighted to receive the award and be a part of the remarkable story; "It may not be the award Tommy was figuring on back in the day, when he was giving Ayrton Senna plenty to worry about on the race track, but it means a lot to both of us and I'm particularly pleased that it will play its part in ensuring this guy and his extraordinary story doesn't get forgotten."

The book had stiff competition from a range of Ireland’s sporting heroes who made the six-book shortlist. This included Ronan O’Gara’s autobiography with Denis Walsh, Tom Humphries account of the life of Sonia O’Sullivan, two horse racing books on Mouse Morris and Mick Fitzgerald and Keith Duggan’s story from behind the doors of Mayo football, House of Pain.

Crashed and Byrned was also the public’s favourite book as it topped the poll on the Irishsportsbookoftheyear.com website. The website received nearly 3,000 votes since it went live in October.

This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul’s autobiography "Back from the Brink". Last year’s award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for "Heart and Soul", which documented Trevor’s highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.

This year’s judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland’s best sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE’s Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper, UTV’s Adrian Logan and Setanta Sports’ Paul Dempsey.

William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year – Judging Panel

• Declan McBennett – Sports Editor, RTE TV News
• Kieran Holden – Sports Editor, TV3
• Deric Henderson – Ireland Editor, Press Association
• Jerry O’Sullivan – Sports Editor, Newstalk
• Matt Cooper – Broadcaster, Today FM and TV3
• George Hook – Broadcaster and Rugby Analyst, Newstalk and RTE
• Eamon Dunphy – Broadcaster and Journalist, RTE
• Adrian Logan – Sports Editor, UTV
• Paul Dempsey – Broadcaster, Setanta Sports
• Robbie Irwin – Broadcaster and Journalist, RTE
• Gerry Thornley – Journalist, Irish Times and winner of William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2007

 

Ends

For further information:
Declan Lee – O’Herlihy Communications – 01 660 2744 / 087 695 7451
Tony Kenny – William Hill – 086 858 9276

 

'Forget Senna and Schuey. Tommy Byrne was the best of them all.' Eddie Jordan

A surreal tale of a poverty-stricken Dundalk kid's rise to become the only racing driver the great Ayrton Senna ever feared - and how it all went wrong from there. For a brief moment Tommy Byrne was arguably the world's greatest driver, the motor racing equivalent of George Best and Muhammad Ali rolled into one. A racer, a thief, a raconteur.

This is the story of his improbable escape, his rapid rise and his spectacular and bizarre fall from grace. Peppered with dark humour and a cast of ridiculous characters, it is the antithesis of a fairytale - and it's all true. Hold on tight, the tale of Tommy Byrne is quite a ride - from fending for himself as the runt of a big Catholic litter in the '60s, running the gauntlet of the sectarian violence in the '70s, troubling Ayrton Senna and making it to F1 in the '80s, resorting to drugs in the aftermath and driving for a deluded billionaire madman and then gun-toting Mexicans in the '90s. It's raw, passionate, and - with Byrne's ability to tell it like it is - not for the faint-hearted.