Dale Earnhardt family feuds as $30billion land battle gets ugly

NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt’s family is involved in a bitter dispute over a planned $30billion land development in North Carolina.

Teresa Earnhardt, third wife and widow of the late racing superstar, wants to use 400 acres of land she owns in Mooresville for a massive project to build a new business park.

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The 66-year-old has requested rezoning of the land to industrial to allow the project to go ahead.

Denver-based developer Tract claims the proposed Mooresville Technology Park would create 277 “recession-resistant” jobs, including some 195 paying $125,000 a year.

It also claims hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues would be generated for Mooresville, Iredell County, and local public schools over 20 years.

Earnhardt vs Earnhard as battle ramps up

But neighbors, including some Earnhardt family members, are fighting hard to stop the plan. Opponents have even set up a website to rally support against it, and the bad blood is ramping up.

The whole things is now a very public Earnhardt family feud, with Dale’s son Kerry (Teresa’s stepson) coming out in strong opposition.

Writing on Facebook, he said his father - who was tragically killed in an accident at the Daytona 500 in 2001 - would be “livid”.

“Frankly, I’m ashamed our family name is involved in the request to rezone a community that is thriving as a rural residential/agriculture zone to be changed to Industrial.

“Infrastructures like this don’t belong in neighborhoods where people’s natural resources will be depleted, wildlife will be uprooted, and the landscape and lives of the people that call this area home will forever be changed. I’d rather see homes built with people loving the land we live on…. the way this area was intended to be!”

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Date officially set for public hearing

Per the Charlotte Observer, Kerry’s wife Rene spoke at a packed public meeting Monday night, describing the project as a “monstrosity of a complex….gobbling away resources”.

She requested that the rezoning proposal be rejected, pleading: “We hope you will preserve the last sliver of agricultural land in the area”. ​​ The bitter dispute is now expected to reach a conclusion on Monday September 15 after commissioners settled on that date for a formal public hearing.

A decision on rezoning will likely be taken that same night.

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