Grubb died from self-inflicted gunshot wound
2000 TIMES-DISPATCH FILE PHOTO
Kevin Grubb wiped his brow as he sat in his car talking to a crew member at RIR in May 2000.
Published: May 7, 2009
Updated: May 8, 2009
MAP: Alpine Motel, Brook Road |
Ex-NASCAR driver Kevin Grubb died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the state medical examiner's office said this afternoon.
Grubb, whose NASCAR career was cut short because of alleged substance abuse, was found dead yesterday morning at a motel in Henrico County.
"There were no indications of any drug use found inside the room," the Henrico County Police Department said in a statement. "A toxicology test was performed on the body, however it may take up to six weeks to get the results back."
According to a Henrico police spokesman, personnel at Alpine Motel on the 7000 block of Brook Road discovered the Mechanicsville native in his room at about 11 a.m.
Grubb, 31, was suspended indefinitely in September 2006 for failing to comply with NASCAR's substance-abuse policy while competing in the then-Busch Series (now Nationwide). He was suspended for refusing to submit to required testing following a race at Richmond International Raceway.
That had been Grubb's second violation of the sport's drug policy for reinstatement. He was first suspended in March 2004 for testing positive for banned substances. He was reinstated to drive in June 2006, with part of the conditions being an agreement that he submit to periodic drug testing at anytime.
"He would not submit to a drug test. We even gave him some time to think about it," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter told reporters in 2006.
Grubb and brother Wayne were NASCAR drivers. Their father, W.O. Grubb, helped launch their careers with Grubb Motorsports. Kevin Grubb's career began with NASCAR's lower-tier series in 1997.
Grubb's only attempt in NASCAR Sprint Cup series came in 2002 in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at RIR. He failed to qualify with the No.54 Team Bristol Motorsports Chevrolet.
Contact Ralph N. Paulk at (804) 649-6851 or
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Reader Reactions
What an incredibly sad Mother’s Day for for his mother. I can’t even imagine it.
Its a shame most of the posts have nothing to do with Kevin and this sad, sad situation!!! Most of us know what its like to lose a loved one, yet most of you showed no compassion for his family when submitting your comments. Kevin and my father shared a mutual friend and I had the pleasure of meeting him once. Although I don’t claim to know him well at all, I do know he deserves more respect the most of you are showing him. The man is dead and we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. No one that commented is perfect, PLEASE stop acting as if you are. My condolences go out to his family.
pflady- Thanks for illuminating the subject matter and saving me response. You know the old saying, though; you can lead a horse to water…
A man died, and regardless of the manner, people are hurting. Be mindful of the people who will see this - his family, his friends, people that loved him. Stop with the mindless judgments and comments and remember that he was a person. No one here walked in his shoes or had to live his life. No one knew what he was feeling or what he was going through. How devastating for those that knew and loved him! My sympathies and my prayers go out to everyone that was a part of his life at any time. He was a good guy and he will be dearly missed by many.
This is shocking. I got to see Kevin drive at Richmond when I covered the races for The Local and always appreciated how supportive and proud Mechanicsville folks were to have one of their own in the big leagues. It was great to see a local guy make good, and incredibly sad to see it end this way. Prayers to the family and Mechanicsville community today.
TravisBickle-This is the last time I will respond to you, because you are obviously immune to education. The brain imaging studies are NOT genetic theories. They are well controlled scientific studies and have shown differences in the brains of addicts during craving, which is the hallmark of addiction (not physical dependence). The differences are NOT in pleasure centers. The differences are in the same brain areas that are abnormal in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The addict keeps craving the drug even if he doesn’t enjoy the drug anymore and even if he knows it is ruining his life. He is compelled to seek and take the drug just like a person with OCD has to constantly flick light switches on and off or wash his hands over and over.
I’m not sure where this discussion got so far off track, but keep in mind that someone died here and that there is a time and place for debate and recrimination. This isn’t it. Kevin’s family are the victims in this - show some respect and debate your theories on addiction and victimhood somewhere else.
i just want to say my prayers go out to the family. i cant imagine how they must feel. i will always have a piece of kevin in my heart. although we lived 5 hours apart, we always found a way to visit one another, no matter what state we were in.i will always have wonderful memories, and lots of them were in the house on the river(good times),and a few at the farm. everything we done was to have fun, and had NOTHING to do with drugs! we had been friends since he signed with Team Bristol, and everything i read on this is not the kev i knew. he has a wonderful family and they all are so close, im so very sorry for your loss. im happy for the memories he gave me and i will never forget.
Yes, drug addicts have definite changes in their brains. Many well-respected scientific studies using brain imaging (PET scans, MRIs) have found this to be true.
Genetic theories, being the modest things they are, can never explain the experience of loss of control. An overview of the research on alcohol and drugs NEVER supports the wild claims made by some proponents of the disease model. These claims reflect fundamentally antiscientific attitudes and a lack of understanding of the confluence of human motivation in response to experience, biology and external stimuli.
BTW: brain images constitute only part of the evidence for physiological changes due to addiction.
You make my point. Stimulation of a pleasure center is only one small component in the entire addiction syndrome. Moreover, if any activity can be pleasurable, from work, to sex, to parenting and so on, identifying activities as stimulating the pleasure center fails to explain why people find different things pleasurable and why different people react in destructive, addictive ways to some of these things, while others incorporate them into a balanced overall lifestyle.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time. As a friend of the family, I urge people to please stop posting comments reguarding the content of Kevin’s character. He was a kind and caring person reguardless of the decisions he made in his life. He will be greatly missed & always remembered & loved.
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