Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, the former Dale Earnhardt Inc. shop-turned-museum has been shuttered, with its seemingly never-ending stockpile of pieces of NASCAR history locked away out of sight of the public.
However, two fans were recently granted a tour around the facility, which has been under the ownership of Dale’s widow, Teresa, since his passing at the 2001 Daytona 500. Photographs from their visit ultimately landed on social media, revealing the state of the buildings as well as its namesake’s cars, trophies, and other memorabilia.
The clearly still well-maintained facility featured trophy-lined hallways, meeting rooms, banquet spaces, artworks of Dale, and a huge variety of DEI trucks and cars, along with cars from his days driving for Richard Childress Racing. The collection also included some DEI cars driven by the NASCAR icon’s son, Dale Jr., who drove for the team in the Cup Series between 1999 and 2007.
These snapshots clearly caught the attention of Dale Jr., who, along with his sister Kelley, has been estranged from Teresa for many years, having left the then Cup Series team DEI under a cloud after the 2007 season. Reflecting on these photos, the now 50-year-old recently admitted to feeling “glad” after seeing that traces of his tenure with the team still remain prominently on display at the facility.
“I was just glad to know that stuff’s still well taken care of,” he said on the ‘Dale Jr. Download.’ “It actually made me feel good that some of my cars are still there, in the front, when you go and you look and you’re looking back there, that they still celebrate all of the history…
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“I haven’t talked to anybody on that side in so long. I haven’t talked to Teresa in so long that I don’t know really where they are emotionally about the relationship or the lack of a relationship.
“And so I was happy to see that some of my cars were still in there. Gives me some hope that there’s a chance of reconciliation somewhere down the road. Even though maybe even though it’s unlikely.”
Upon Dale’s death on the final lap of the 500, which saw him collide with a wall head-on, his entire estate, team, and almost two dozen trademarks were all awarded to Teresa, as per his will, according to the Washington Post.
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Following the seven-time champion’s passing, both Kelley and Dale Jr. never had the opportunity to go through any of their dad’s “sentimental possessions, childhood items or family photos,” as per the Post, with Kelley adding that, “Teresa rejected their input, she says, when planning Dale Sr.’s funeral and choosing a grave site.”
Kelley and Dale Jr., whose mother was Dale’s second wife, Brenda Gee, have also not been able to visit their dad’s grave since his internment, with Kelley calling Teresa “extreme,” adding that she believes “that we might get arrested” if they were to try and visit again.
Since Dale’s death, Teresa has largely kept a low public profile, with DEI eventually dropping from the grid following the 2008 season, at which point it merged with Chip Ganassi Racing. This changed in recent months, however, after she failed to sell a 399-acre portion of her land to a developer seeking to use it for a data center.
This proved extremely divisive among the local community, which included Dale’s oldest son, Kerry.