Rest in peace Shane Unger

[welderron105]

I was sitting in turn 4 and and it happened to my left, he came up the track and slammed into the wall, as hard a hit as i have seen in a long time.
I told all around me it would be a miracle if he wasnt hurt.
My wife, and hardly anyone around me saw it because they were watching the leaders.

Rest In Peace, Shane

[heinen81]

ah ok, that makes more sense! either way, sad ordeal.

[JustAddDirt]

Did anyone on here actually see the incident? I just talked to someone who did, and I got the impression he was hard on the brakes and slowed, he tagged the back of a nearly stopped car, drivers door to left rear wheel area, and went up the track and bumped the wall, if that. Was told the safety workers were walking around the car, so it was not pinned drivers side door into the wall. Was told if not for cutting the cage to get him out, it looked like replace a wheel/tire and some sheet metal work and it could have been fixed in 15 minutes. Is it possible he had a medical emergency during/after?

saw wreck just before he hit wall. Hit drivers door rear halo (right in front of LR tire area) first. Hit really hard, had a horrible sound upon impact. I knew by the sound and what I saw it was gong to be bad.
The left side of car was up against the wall when the 1st safety person arrived he tried to get around the drivers side front, and I believe he tried rear, went in threw passenger side, then more arrived and were on decking, then they got the saws out extricate.

horrible deal, to see. I hear he had a HANS on, but that just works on frontal impacts.
full containment seat might/should have helped, but who is to say.
my bet was a basal skull fracture. or massive head trauma.
Condolences to all his family.

[MotoMatt]

No matter what, it's a bad deal and I pray for his family.

I think there should be some mandatory safety rules pertaining to fire suits, gloves, restraints, etc. I don't understand how he wasn't running a window net if he didn't have a containment seat, I thought it was one or the other. Don't know if a net would have made a lick of differance, but I think they should be required.

He was a big dude, maybe it was a space issue that led to the old style seat, either way though, he's gone and I hope something good comes from it in the form of mandatory, enforced safety measures.

[JustAddDirt]

Especially with the speeds they are running at the Big E.

[Centeroff]

You don't see many deaths in a DLM. I have seen a lot of crashes that looked worse than this one. Poor guy hit in the worst possible manner. I would bet his helmet hit the wall. Not sure exactly the cause but one could only assume brain trauma. God bless his soul!!

[Snake X3]

His obit is posted on the Eldora site. You can view it here....

http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/2016/09/12/funeral-arrangements-announced-for-driver-shane-unger/

[MEE]

Will i am not going to say if it was wrong or right no more .. And just be sad that he lost his Live instead.....The Family dont need too see Us fighting over How it was handle...

Agree 100%

[racer17]

welder89..He was in a Rayburn..Last I heard from the owners son they are taking it to a bare chassis as C J wants to see it

[GRT24]

Strange things happen. I guy a used to help about 7 or 8 years had a HANS device on and they piled up in front of him going to 1. He locked the brakes up and the car turned sideways. The track had taken a ton of rubber. The car slide sideways and the tires grabbed and the car did a little bunny hop but it was so sudden his head bent over and put him straight to sleep. We were right there and you could see his head hanging forward and not moving. It took quite a few mins for him to gain consciousness. He opened his eyes as they were loading him in the ambulance. I jumped in the car cranked it up and drove it off the track. Not one scratch on it. I guess my point is that it really doesn't take a hard impact it's just the right movement of the head and neck. His also never touched anything it was left to right motion of his head that did it. Things can happen that's a given. God Bless his family especially his children.

[Centeroff]

NASCAR has the huge headrest that fits tight to both sides of the helmet. That is working really well but we do not have spotters. Would make it impossible for the driver to see. They have to do something to make these cars safer but what is it??

[MotoMatt]

I think a different thread on safety is appropriate here, let's talk how to make it safer apart from the thread honoring Shane, the least we could do. I can't imagine he intended it to happen like this, just the way it happened and we can honor him by having the conversation, just in a different thread.

[MADCAPRACING22]

I remember reading about the crash Brian Harris had. His head hit the cage. Just a freak shot that does it. It just sucks. Rest in peace Shane.

[MotoMatt]

And Harris is pretty short too.

[dlm82]

My thoughts and prayers go out to Shane's family. What a terrible thing to happen. I was half sick to my stomach when I read about the accident on Saturday. Also, my thoughts and prayers go out to Pat and Jason Ferguson the owners of the car. I have known them for over 30 years and am sure the did everything in their power to make sure Shane had a safe car to race in. Just a bad deal for everyone.

Marvin Schilling