Good for him.
For quite a few months now, there’s been an ongoing debate and fight over what’s to become of the land that belonged to the late, great Dale Earnhardt. Last year, his widow, Teresa Earnhardt, put in a request to have it all rezoned for a $30 billion industrial complex called Mooresville Technology Park in Mooresville, North Carolina, the town where Dale owned his Dale Earnhardt Inc. race team and lived nearby.
Now, Teresa doesn’t exactly have the best reputation with fans of NASCAR and her late husband, many of whom even refer to her as “The Wicked Witch of the South.” There are plenty of reasons as to why that is, which you can read more about HERE. Bottom line is, she’s not a favorite among NASCAR fans or North Carolinians, and this is thankfully something we have some say in, though it’s been heading in the wrong direction very fast.
She and Kerry Dale Earnhardt, the eldest son of Dale Sr., in particular, have had some issues in the past. She previously sued him over sued over the use of the “Earnhardt” name when he launched his own lifestyle brand, The Earnhardt Collection, back in the early 2010s. More on that HERE.
In October of last year, there was a highly-attended board meeting of almost 200 neighbors, including Rene Earnhardt, wife of, Kerry, who all urged the Mooresville Planning Board to recommend denial of Teresa’s request. They denied it with a vote of 8-0, which was a great sign. The industrial park would sit on 399 acres of beautiful countryside, in one of the less populated areas of the county, on the eastern side of Iredell. According to The Charlotte Observer, “board member Shaun Hooper made the motion against the request, agreeing with residents that the proposal was out of character with Mooresville’s more agricultural, less populated eastern side.”
Of the 13 speakers who encouraged the board to vote against the proposal, at one point, one of them asked everyone who was at the meeting and opposed to the rezoning to stand up, and the entire crowd stood up. Literally only one person wants this to happen…
While many were hopeful things were headed in the right direction after that meeting, unfortunately, Teresa received approval by Mooresville planners in May to put a major data center campus on her 400 wooded acres. The Mooresville Planning Board this time voted 4-3 to recommend a rezoning of Teresa’s land for what they’re calling Mooresville Technology Park, and it’s a shame, to put it very mildly.
It wasn’t the final say, though, because the Mooresville Board of Commissioners still need to have a final vote on the rezoning at a meeting that was just announced to be happening next month on September 15th, and the board typically votes on a rezoning the night of the public hearing, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Planners say the park would bring 277 “recession-resistant” jobs (whatever that means), which would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for Mooresville and Iredell County as a whole over the next 20 years, according to Mooresville Technology Park.com. They estimated tax revenue to be in “the multiple billions of dollars,” but the destruction is would cause is priceless, though obviously I know developers could not care less about that.
Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that area has already, very sadly, been overdeveloped to the max, and thousands of people have moved to the town over the last several years. It’s completely out of control for what was once a quaint small town with tons of gorgeous land, and Dale Earnhardt is obviously a main fixture around race city, how many people refer to Mooresville.
I’m personally just so tired of seeing these types of things destroyed for the sake of money, and while I don’t know Teresa’s personal financial situation or what would lead her to do something like this, I think it’s gross to she would sell her husband’s land, that meant so much to him, to put a data center there. It’s shameful, and it’s wrong, but it’s hers to sell and that’s the saddest part about it.
There’s more information on why the people of Mooresville are so against it at their website nodatacentermooresvillenc.com, and I think the reasoning against is something most people can understand and dare I say, would probably agree with. Aside from the fact that it’s Dale Sr.’s land, why would anyone want to live near something like this? The fact that it’s his land is only part of the many problems with this whole bunch of crap.
If it all goes through, the the first building would be completed in 2029. Teresa Earnhardt hasn’t attended any of the meetings in person, but sent others to speak on her behalf. I know she’s an aging woman, and in some aspects I feel for her, I genuinely do, but she has had a bad reputation for years, and that makes it really hard to be sympathetic when it comes to something like this…
Now Teresa is trying to sell off Dale’s farm and turn it into an industrial park. Greediest woman alive.
— The Catch Fence ™ (@TheCatchFence) October 19, 2024
But there’s one person who is continuing to speak out about all of this, and that would be the aforementioned Kerry Earnhardt. He and his wife, Rene, have been extremely vocal about their disapproval of this concept, and have attended the meetings and done everything they can to stop it.
And on X earlier, he ripped his stepmother for what she’s trying to do, saying his late father would be “livid” to have his named “associated in this title,” and while I obviously never knew him, based on everything I have heard and know about Dale Sr., I completely agree he would want NO part of this whatsoever.
Kerry went onto say that it will change the lives of the people who call the area home “forever,” and will deplete natural resources and harm wildlife in the process:
“Dad would be livid, his name is associated in this title! Data Centers don’t belong in neighborhoods… natural resources are depleted, wildlife uprooted! The landscape, lives that call this home… forever changed. Build homes w/people loving the land we live as land it’s intended!”
I couldn’t have said it better myself, and I can only imagine how awful this has been for them as people who not only live very close to where this is potentially happening, but as a son who just has to stand by and watch:
Dad would be livid, his name is associated in this title!Data Centers don’t belong in neighborhoods..natural resources are depleted, wildlife uprooted! The landscape, lives that call this home..forever changed. Build homes w/people loving the land we live as land it’s intended! https://t.co/d354jhNjWY
— Kerry Dale Earnhardt (@KerryDEarnhardt) July 31, 2025
But he didn’t stop there… Kerry, who is seemingly pretty inactive on X, has been responding to fans who are also upset over this whole ordeal. Kerry seems to think, if the land does get sold, it should at least be zoned as “rural residential,” rather than commercial or industrial:
By right anyone can “the area” is Zoned Rural Residential, 1 🏠/1 acre! Folks living on the land better than Flex Industrial draining water reservoirs, sucking up every zap of power and increasing taxes while decreasing land value
— Kerry Dale Earnhardt (@KerryDEarnhardt) August 2, 2025
But one person took it way too far, telling him:
“Glad to see you’re still pissed off. As a father I would have chosen my kids but unfortunately your father didn’t. Not your land or decision. Sorry.”
While technically true, because none of the kids are entitled to the land based on their father’s will, that’s a low blow but Kerry seemed unfazed and was honestly a lot nicer than I would’ve been…it’s a low blow, but also wrong in the fact that Kerry lives nearby, and this data center would impact his land, as well as many others who live in this rural part of Mooresville:
“Buddy, I don’t know you and you don’t know, but you’re entitled to your opinion. MY land is affected when people must change environmental boundaries to suffice their economic growth!”
Buddy, I don’t know you and you don’t know, but you’re entitled to your opinion 👊 MY land is affected when people must change environmental boundaries to suffice their economic growth!
— Kerry Dale Earnhardt (@KerryDEarnhardt) August 2, 2025
One fan who admitted they’re part of the overpopulation problem in the area, which is a massive issue and part of what makes this whole thing so frustrating for locals, weighed in:
“This town is already overpopulated enough because of clowns like me moving here, I don’t think a data center will help with that.”
And Kerry summed it up perfectly, honestly… unfortunately this seems to be MUCH easier said than done, but I digress…
“We’ll keep y’all clowns as long as you don’t try to change us country bumpkins lol.”
We’ll keep y’all clowns as long as you don’t try to change us country bumpkins lol
— Kerry Dale Earnhardt (@KerryDEarnhardt) July 31, 2025
I sincerely hope the town Commissioners will make the right call here, but when that type of money is involved, it feels pretty unlikely there’s much of a chance this doesn’t happen. I know it probably doesn’t help, but Kerry and his wife should at least sleep well at night knowing they’ve done everything they can to stop it, like I imagine their father might have wanted considering how much he loved his land.
But having Kerry be so vocal might at least help some reconsider why this decision is so important, and his late father, who did so much to make the town what it is, deserves better… even if is wife might not agree.
