USAC Driver Shane Hmiel Faces Long Road of Recovery Ahead, Updated 10/11 9:13PM

News broke out last night that USAC driver Shane Hmiel suffered major injuries following a serious class in qualifying.

As per the article posted last night, it was reported that at the time, he had woken up and suffered a broken neck and back.

More news has cracked through the airwaves today as it was reported that he'd need to have two surgeries—one for his neck (broken in two spots) and one for his back (broken in one).

The neck surgery is completed as of tonight, in which has been reported to have gone well. According to sources, they inserted two rods into his neck, which actually stimulated the brain and they got some movement out of his hands. Currently, he is resting comfortably.

The back surgery will be tomorrow, in which after that, more information will be known as to if there's also a possible spinal cord injury.

These injuries were caused following a wreck in qualifying. During qualifying, USAC officials report that Hmiel flipped in turns three and four, with the top of the roll cage bouncing off the wall. Initial reports are said that Hmiel was unresponsive at the scene. He was then airlifted to Indianapolis Methodist Hospital.

Hmiel has been working at rebuilding his racing career after receiving a lifetime ban from NASCAR in 2005 after failing a substance abuse test.

During his NASCAR career, Hmiel made seven Cup starts in two seasons. He made a total of 83 Nationwide starts over four years, earning 23 top-10 finishes, 10 of them top fives. He made a total of 29 Camping World Truck Series starts, winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2004.

As always, more updates will be posted as they are released.

Update 10/11/2010 2:16PM:

As of 1pm EST, Hmiel went into have the back surgery, which will take 5-7 hours.

As according to sources, he was looking better this morning, has been nodding his head whenever spoke to, and there is no serious head trauma.

Update 10/11/2010 6:45PM

An update was released that so far the surgery is going well and there is no time limit as to when it'll be done.

Update 10/11/2010 9:14PM

The second surgery is complete and the surgery exceeded all expectations.

The Hmiel family released a statement during the back surgery, stating that they were thankful to everybody for their prayers.

We would like to thank everyone for all there prayers and support. He is in second surgery and we have heard it is going awesome. Please keep your prayers coming they are making a difference. We will keep you updated as information come in.