The 50th Annual 3-Hour Figure 8 Championship at the Indianapolis Speedrome was supposed to be a celebration. It ended with a felony charge, a near-riot, and footage that looks more like a demolition derby crossed with a bar brawl.
The sequence of events from Sunday’s race reads like an escalation ladder with every rung broken. Jeffrey Shackelford, piloting the No. 28 car, and Mark Tunny in the No. 3T collided while battling for the lead with roughly 10 minutes remaining. That alone would have been unremarkable for Figure 8 racing, where the track literally crosses over itself and contact is part of the furniture.
But Mark Tunny came back for seconds, spinning Shackelford minutes later. Then Mark’s brother Dana, driving the No. T8 car some 200 laps behind the leaders, T-boned Shackelford as he tried to get back on track. Dana drove off. Shackelford sat stationary.
What happened next turned a racing incident into a criminal case.
As Shackelford began climbing out of his wrecked car, Dana Tunny apparently drove back across the track and hit him again. Video shows Shackelford responding by climbing into Dana’s cockpit to attack him, then hurling his helmet into the car before a police officer stepped in to separate them. Adrenaline, rage, and a complete collapse of any pretense that this was still organized competition.
Dana wasn’t done. As he drove through the pit lane afterward, police say he swerved his car toward Shackelford’s crew and nearby spectators. He didn’t hit anyone. But a late model car lunging at people standing in the pits is the kind of gesture that tends to provoke a response. A crowd swarmed Dana’s car, punching and kicking at the bodywork as he passed.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office charged Dana Tunny with two Level 6 felony counts of Criminal Recklessness. The first count stems from the final on-track hit on Shackelford’s car while Shackelford was standing on it. The second covers the alleged swerve at pit lane personnel and fans.
For the uninitiated, the Indianapolis Speedrome is not the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It sits 24 miles from the famous Brickyard, a short-track venue with its own devoted following and a long history of Figure 8 racing. The format is exactly what the name implies: cars running a loop where traffic paths intersect, creating a rolling game of chicken at every crossing.
Sunday crossed the line from controlled chaos into plain chaos. A 200-laps-down car deliberately targeting the race leader. A driver using his vehicle as a weapon in a crowded pit lane. A cop trying to pull apart two grown men in a cockpit.
This wasn’t aggressive racing. It was a grudge match that escalated until someone caught a felony.
Dana Tunny’s charges carry potential prison time in Indiana. The Speedrome has not publicly commented on any sanctions against the drivers involved. Shackelford, who was running for the win before the whole thing unraveled, has not issued a public statement either.
The 51st running of this race is already on the calendar.
Share this Story