A NASCAR headstone was banned by the Catholic Church from a cemetery where it would mark the resting place of a true NASCAR racing fan.

Shannon Carr spent $9,600 on a black granite headstone shaped like a couch and engraved with a full-color NASCAR logo to honor the memory of her husband, Jason Carr. Jason Carr died in a car accident in 2009.

The banned NASCAR headstone was also engraved with an Indianapolis Colts logo, a deer and a dog. 

The Republic reported that Rev. Jonathan Meyer of St. Joseph banned the NASCAR headstone because it didn't meet regulations for the cemetery that is over 100 years old.

Carr decided to sue the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis Properties Inc., the owners of the cemetery, on the grounds that the organization never produced regulations for the plot until over a year after she first attempted to install the NASCAR headstone in 2010.

However, Reverend Meyer claimed that photographs of the headstone had been shown to the Parish Council six weeks before Carr initially purchased it. He stated that the council determined the monument wasn't acceptable because it was 'too secular'.

Meyers explained, "They told her not to move forward with the purchasing of the monument, but she went ahead anyway. We have consistently communicated the same message prior to the purchase and after the purchase."

"We did not think a granite couch was an appropriate monument in our historic cemetery," he concluded.

Meyer admitted that the formal cemetery rulers were 'set in stone' after Carr bought the headstone, but stated that they were commonly known before. The archdiocese claimed that the cemetery regulations have existed since 1907.

Archdiocese attorney John S. Mercer said that the lawsuit falls outside the court's jurisdiction because the First Amendment prohibits the court system from getting involved in Church affairs. So, it appears that the church will have to deal with this dilemma on its own. 

The father of the deceased NASCAR fan, Henry Carr, said, "I'm told the controversy is splitting the church apart, tearing it in half. But I guess that's what has to be done."