Figure 8 Race Devolves Into Chaos and a Driver Felony Charge

A Figure 8 race at the Indianapolis Speedrome—not to be confused with the big Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is 24 miles to its east—ended with an arrest after an on-track incident led to a physical scuffle and one of the drivers allegedly swerved into the other’s pit crew.

This is a rather complex situation, so please bear with me here. It all went down Sunday in the closing minutes of the 50th Annual 3-Hour Figure 8 Championship event, which is literally what it sounds like—late model cars driving for hours in a loop where the flow of traffic crosses with itself. Time that crossing poorly, and things very quickly get ugly, though that’s not how this particular incident all started.

Jeffrey Shackelford, behind the wheel of the No. 28 car, and Mark Tunny, driver of the No. 3T, collided in a battle for the lead with about 10 minutes to go, according to Brayton Laster via X. Mark Tunny hit Shackelford again minutes later, spinning him, before Mark’s brother, Dana Tunny, driving car No. T8 some 200 laps down, T-boned Shackelford as he tried to rejoin the action.

Unsportsmanlike crash causes near riot at Indianapolis Speedrome

Shackelford remained stationary while Dana drove off. Moments later, Shackelford began to climb out of his car when it appears Dana ventured across the track directly to hit him again. In the video above, you can watch Shackelford respond by climbing into Dana’s car to attack the driver, then throwing his helmet into Dana’s cockpit before a police officer could restrain him.

As Dana later drove through the pits, police say he swerved at Shackelford’s team and nearby spectators, per Fox 59 and CBS 4. Evidently he didn’t hit anyone, but this gesture unsurprisingly resulted in a great many more people punching and kicking at Dana’s car. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office ultimately charged Dana Tunny with two Level 6 counts of Criminal Recklessness: once for the final hit at Shackelford’s car, when Shackelford was standing on it, and again for his supposed action in pit lane, per Essentially Sports.

I’ve seen drivers do some very dumb and dangerous things on track, and I’ve seen races devolve into physical brawls before, but this entire fracas is easily the most chaotic I’ve witnessed in recent memory. Then again, when you’re talking about a style of racing where competitors are literally thrown into cross traffic by design, maybe none of this should be so surprising.

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