Spectator commits suicide with gun at NRA sponsored NASCAR race

A 42-year-old spectator committed suicide at a controversial NRA sponsored NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night.

Kirk Franklin, of Saginaw, died of a "self-inflicted injury" following a heated argument in the infield of the Texas Sprint Cup race, police said, according to dailymail.com.  

He was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound at 10:48 p.m.

Police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight said the man was involved a verbal altercation. Alcohol may have been a factor in the incident, which occurred late in the Sprint Cup race, according to Knight.

Knight said authorities weren't sure of Franklin's relationship with others involved in the argument. Several people witnessed the incident, but nobody was in danger, police said. Knight did not elaborate further on the cause of death but said there were no suspects. Emergency vehicles were called to the scene.

The death occurred "in or around a pickup truck" in part of the infield near the middle of the backstretch, track spokesman Mike Zizzo said.

Police blocked off the area around the incident, and investigators could be seen looking into a truck. Franklin died towards the end of the NRA 500, which kicked off at the Fort Worth speedway at 7:30 p.m.

Opponents of the NRA sponsoring the race said it would be inappropriate for the gun lobbyists to be involved in a NASCAR event in the wake of the Newtown school shooting in December.

Kyle Busch led the final 19 laps to win the race event and complete a weekend sweep.

Kyle Busch's Family Christmas Card 2012 gets kind of creepy

Kyle Busch took one last shot at pleasing Santa this year before the fat man left a can of motor oil in his stocking.

NASCAR's bad boy enlisted a crew to shoot a video of his wife, Samantha, and their three adorable little dogs making the Busch Family Christmas Card 2012.

The clip shows Samantha giving her husband the Ed Grimley look before the couple dons some ugly elf costumes.  Well, she looks pretty sexy in her green wig.

Things get a little creepy when she starts tugging at him with a huge candy cane in front of a garish Santa-themed backdrop.



Is it enough to get off the naughty list?

Did I mention the dogs are adorable.

Marcos Ambrose out-slicks drivers in wild finish at Watkins Glen

In the final laps at Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, Marcos Ambrose's chances for the checkered flag looked slim.  After passing Brad Keselowski to move into second and staying neck-and-neck with the leader Kyle Busch, Keselowski got by Ambrose.

At this time, Bobby LaBonte's engine sprung an oil leak, spewing the slippery black gold all over the racing surface and that's when things got real fun.

The trio of drivers at the head of the pack drove into the final lap on a surface that was more slip-n-slide than asphalt.  The oil slicks were virtually invisible to the naked eye and turned the race into boardwalk bumper cars.

Even if you don't follow NASCAR, the final lap was worth watching for the wildest finish in recent  memory— as the cars criss-crossed each other, banged bumpers,  hit the grass and spun out.



The crazy finish will be followed by a critical debate on whether NASCAR's decision not to throw a caution for the oil on the already contentious track was wrong.

Afterwards, most of the racers talked about the track condition except Busch who angrily said, "I have nothing nice to say."

"I was the first one to slip in the oil and it was getting worse and worse," said Ambrose.  "It's just awesome fun and that's the way racing should be and we got the No. 9 Stanley Ford in Victory Lane."

NASCAR said they didn't have a confirmed report of oil on the track and that none of their spotters noticed any oil.

Oh yeah, Ambrose won the race for the second time.

Jimmie Johnson's daughter refuses to kiss the bricks after Brickyard 400 win

Jimmie Johnson had a tough time holding off Kyle Busch to win his fourth career Brickyard 400 but had a harder time getting his young daughter to honor the long tradition of kissing the bricks after a victory at the Indianapolis race track.

As Johnson and his wife knelt down to kiss the racer's sacred patch of bricks and cement, their daughter Genevieve looked up at her parents with a "You want me to do what?" look.

No coaxing of the youngster could convince her to do something she was probably taught was a no-no— put your lips on the dirty ground.

"She wasn't into it ," joked the winning driver.

Johnson joined Jeff Gordon as the only NASCAR racers with four Brickyard 400 wins under their belts.

The family then took a victory lap around the track in the winning car and the little girl probably thought celebrating like this "was more like it."