Wonder why nobody likes her…
There may be no greater villain for NASCAR fans than Teresa Earnhardt, the widow of the legendary Dale Earnhardt and stepmother to Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sorry, Dale Jr. Apparently “Earnhardt” is trademarked.
Teresa was the third wife of the Intimidator and the niece of legendary NASCAR driver Tommy Houston, who met Earnhardt at the track back in the 1970s before the two were married in 1982.
But on February 18, 2001, Teresa inherited another role that she never wanted: Executor of Dale Earnhardt’s vast empire and owner of his NASCAR team.
Now, it seems like Dale’s children have always had somewhat of a cold relationship with their stepmother. But that relationship further deteriorated after Dale was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500 and Teresa became the owner of Dale’s race team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Longtime NASCAR fans know how the story ends: Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had driven for DEI during his entire NASCAR Cup Series career, wanted majority ownership of the team, and ended up leaving for Hendrick Motorsports when Teresa refused to give up control. The race team would shut down just a few years later.
And along the way there have been plenty of other battles between Earnhardt’s widow and his children.
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.
In fact, Dale Jr. sister and business partner, Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, revealed during an interview that they’re not even allowed to visit the father’s grave at her estate in North Carolina:
“She’s so extreme that we might get arrested.”
Yeah, it’s easy to see why NASCAR fans refer to her as the “Wicked Witch of the South.”
Well apparently Kerry Earnhardt isn’t the only one Teresa has gone after for using the Earnhardt name. (You know, his ACTUAL name). During a recent episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior was discussing his signature and why he doesn’t sign his last name. And though he says it started because his last name was too long when he was signing so many autographs, he also revealed that he also had a legal battle with his stepmother over the right to use his own last name:
“I was signing thousands of autographs at the racetrack a weekend, and so it was just quicker and easier for me to write Dale Jr.
There was also sort of a little bit of a – I don’t really remember all the details, but I was working with Teresa to establish the rights to my name and to get ownership of the rights to my name, and I think you know there was a window where ‘Earnhardt’ was a little – legally it was a little touchy. And so we took it off the roof of the car. It was in the name rail of my car and I just went with Dale Jr. and felt like even if I did acquire the legal rights to my name, just Dale Jr. was easy.
That’s what I want you to call me. Dale Earnhardt Jr., just a long name.
And so yeah, that that affected the autograph.”
I mean…once again, it’s HIS name, one that SHE married into. I understand protecting her late husband’s trademark, but not at the expense of preventing his son from using his family name. Just beyond the pale.
Ultimately, it seems all the battles between Teresa and her stepchildren has left them without a relationship – though Junior has said in the past that he’s open to a reconciliation at some point down the road.
The comments came after rare footage of the DEI shop revealed that some of Junior’s old cars are still there:
“I haven’t talked to Teresa in so long that I don’t know 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 there. It gives me some hope that there’s a chance of reconciliation somewhere down the road.”
Honestly, he’s a better man than I am. If somebody had tried to stop me from using my own name, that would be the end of any relationship I would want to have with them.
