I'm shocked... Of course Teresa Earnhardt doesn't have the best reputation among NASCAR fans these days. The wife of the late, great Dale Earnhardt hasn't exactly done much to endear herself to her late husband's fans or his children since Earnhardt was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500. Teresa was the third wife of Dale Earnhardt, and the stepmother to
Dale Earnhardt Jr. And when Earnhardt tragically lost his life in the final turn of the Daytona 500, Teresa also inherited another role: NASCAR team owner. Dale Earnhardt had started his race team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., in the 1980s to field cars for himself in the then-Busch Series. The team eventually grew into the Cup Series, and in 2000 he began fielding a car for his son, Dale Jr. Longtime NASCAR fans know how the story ends: With the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., leaving the team his father built after a bitter (and public) battle with his stepmother over ownership in the company, and the team folding just a few years later (after Teresa said they would just
"make another Dale Jr." if he left the team). It’s a saga that’s left many in the sport unwilling to even discuss Teresa Earnhardt. And when the fans discuss her, they usually don’t have many nice things to say. Teresa and her stepsons, Dale Jr. and his half-brother Kerry, have had a turbulent relationship to say the least. Aside from Dale Jr.’s battle with his stepmom over his dad’s race team, Teresa also filed a lawsuit against Kerry over his use of the Earnhardt name when Kerry announced plans to roll out a line of homes and furniture called “The Earnhardt Collection.” Then there was the commercial that Budweiser released to honor Earnhardt Jr. before his last race in the Cup Series. Fans quickly noticed that the commercial didn’t feature Jr.’s #8 on the car, or any of the trademarks of Dale’s DEI car that are still owned by Teresa, leading many to assume that Teresa refused to allow Budweiser to use the DEI trademarks in honoring Dale Jr. So yeah, there's a reason NASCAR fans call Teresa the "Wicked Witch of the South." But as it turns out, the relationship between Dale's sons and their stepmom doesn't sound like it was all that great even before their father's passing. Of course there have been a lot of stories about Dale Earnhardt as a father, and how he may not have been the best dad at times because he was so focused on racing. But through it all, it's undeniable the love that the Intimidator had for his sons, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt, as well as his daughters, Kelley and Taylor Earnhardt. As it turns out though, Kerry didn't even know that the legendary racecar driver was his father until he was in high school. It's actually a pretty interesting story, one that Kerry and Dale Jr. broke down together during an episode of Junior's podcast,
The Dale Jr. Download, a few years ago. Kerry was the son of Dale Earnhardt and his first wife, Latane. The two were married when they were only 18 years old, and divorced not long after, when Kerry was only 3 years old. Well Kerry's mother remarried, and he was adopted by his stepfather with no idea that Dale Earnhardt was actually his dad. Eventually though, Kerry found out he was adopted and started asking his mom questions about his birth father. Eventually, when Kerry was in the 9th grade, his mom gave in and told him who his father was. Kerry admits that at the time, he still didn’t fully understand how successful his dad was becoming, although at this point his dad would’ve won quite a few Cup Series races and was starting to pick up steam as one of the best in
NASCAR at the time. The first member of the Earnhardt family Kerry met was Dale's mother Martha (so Kerry's grandmother). She had come to watch one of his baseball games at Jackson Park in Concord, North Carolina, and brought some of his cousins along as well. Martha continued going to his games, and Kerry and his Mammaw formed a strong relationship during that time. Eventually, with the help of some of his Earnhardt family members, there was a call set up for Kerry to talk to his dad on the phone. But as time went by, Kerry was never able to meet his dad in person. So the day he got his license, he decided to drive around and go to his grandma’s house to visit. Kerry said it was "natural" talking to his Mammaw by that point, but something else was on his mind: His dad, who he had still never met, was out working in his shop behind the house. He admits that it took almost two hours of chatting, but he finally asked Martha if Dale was in his garage. When she confirmed that he was, Kerry decided to go meet his dad for the first time. According to Kerry, he walked into the garage and saw Tony Eury Sr., Dale Earnhardt's cousin, sitting there, and Earnhardt working on a car.
“I opened that door, and it got quiet. And I remember Tony Sr. was sittin’ there, and dad was under the hood. And he just raised up when I opened the door, and dad’s like ‘Hey, son.’ And I said, ‘Hey, dad, how are you doin’?’ So we sat there and talked a little bit and he says ‘Come on, lets go ridin’. So we rode around town for a little bit just talkin’ about things, and he mentioned about me comin’ to the house visiting and getting to meet you and Kelley.” Well the visit went well, so they set a date the following week for Kerry to come back over to meet his siblings, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt. So he pulls up and sees Dale Jr. playing football in the yard with his friends:
"I walked up and knocked on the door. And it wasn't dad that answered. It was someone else. And I said, 'Hello.' And she says 'Hey' and slams the door." He tried to beat around the bush, but I think we all know who Kerry was talking about...and if we didn't, Junior's co-host Mike Davis pulls it out of him:
"It was Teresa. Everybody knows who it is." Well Dale finally comes to the door and apologizes for his wife's behavior:
"Dad, I heard him inside a little loud, and he come to the door, 'Hey son, sorry about that, she wasn't expecting you and didn't know what was going on.'" Should have been a sign of things to come... Well Kerry spent time talking to his dad that day, and not long after Kerry first went to his dad’s house, he finally got to officially meet his siblings at a family reunion at their Mammaw’s house. Dale Jr. says Kerry and his sister Kelley had an instant connection, and they basically only talked to each other the entire day of the family reunion. From that point forward at the family reunion, Kerry got to know everyone over time by hanging out at the race shop where he would always see the guys who worked there, along with his siblings. He noted one of the coolest visits was Christmas Eve of the same year he’d met all of his new family. His dad invited him to spend the night there with all of them, and he remembers fondly waking up in that house on Christmas morning, finally having a relationship with the man he’d wanted to get to know for so long. The whole story just illustrates the dynamic that the Earnhardt children grew up with - and that the fractures with their stepmother seemed to develop much earlier than 2001. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVA_uk6KW8k
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