Teresa Earnhardt (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Houston; born October 29, 1958) is the third wife and widow of Dale Earnhardt. She is the biological mother of Taylor Nicole Earnhardt (born December 20, 1988) and she is the stepmother of

Kerry Earnhardt Kerry Dale Earnhardt (born December 8, 1969) is a former NASCAR driver and the eldest son of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt. He is the half-brother of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was employed by Dal ...

Kelley Earnhardt Miller Kelley King Earnhardt Miller (née Earnhardt; formerly Earnhardt-Elledge; born August 28, 1972) is an American businesswoman. She is the Chief Executive Officer of JR Motorsports which she co-owns with her brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and she i ...

and

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

Early life

Teresa was born in

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the time of the 2020 census, Hickory's population was 43,490. Hickor ...

, the daughter of Hal Houston and the niece of Tommy Houston, legendary

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

driver. Teresa is a graduate of Bunker Hill High School in

Claremont, North Carolina Claremont is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,352 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Originally known as Charlotte Crossin ...

. She has a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in commercial art and interior design.
Teresa met Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR driver, at a race in the late 1970s. The two married November 14, 1982. It was Dale's third marriage. They lived on a 300-plus acre farm near

Mooresville, North Carolina Mooresville is a large town located in the southwestern section of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of the fast-growing Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 50,193 at the 2020 United States Census making it ...

. Taylor Nicole Earnhardt was born to the couple on December 20, 1988.

NASCAR career

Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

Teresa headed Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) during two Busch Series championships in 1998 and 1999 and two

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

championships in 1996 and 1998. Through

Chance 2 Motorsports Chance 2 Motorsports is a former NASCAR racing team that was founded by Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003. Although connected with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and run by Teresa Earnhardt after his ...

, she was also part owner of the Busch Series championship team in 2004 and 2005. Her first Daytona 500 win as a team owner occurred when driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet driven by Michael Waltrip won at the 2001 race. The win, however, was overshadowed by her husband's death in a crash during the final lap of the race. Teresa's strained relationship with her stepson

ended in May 2007 when he announced he would not be returning to DEI for the 2008 season after an agreement could not be reached that suited himself and his three siblings who claim equal right to the business. In late 2006, Teresa hired entertainment executive

Max Siegel Max Siegel (born December 31, 1964) is an American corporate CEO, president, entertainer executive, multicultural activist and attorney. He is the current Chief Executive Officer of USA Track & Field (USATF), the National Governing Body of track a ...

as President of Global Operations to help DEI expand into the entertainment industry. On July 25, 2007, DEI purchased

Ginn Racing MB2 Motorsports was a NASCAR Cup Series team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, near the sport's hub in Charlotte. The team was founded by Read Morton, Tom Beard, and Nelson Bowers, from which the original team name were named after. Bowers w ...

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing merger

Teresa was unable to retain the sponsorships of

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...

and

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, who pulled support following the exit of Earnhardt Jr. This was a major factor leading to the merger with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in November 2008 that formed Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. In 2010, the team won the Daytona 500 with

Jamie McMurray James Christopher McMurray (born June 3, 1976), nicknamed Jamie Mac, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for '' Fox NASCAR''. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018 ...

. In 2014, Teresa's ownership of the EGR team was absorbed by Ganassi, which reverted the name back to Chip Ganassi Racing. When

Chip Ganassi Floyd Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) better known as Chip Ganassi, is a US businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scen ...

was asked why the team released her, he replied "Teresa was a good partner but she was no longer there. So I just bought her share of the team and reverted the name." Dale Earnhardt Inc. continues to operate in Mooresville, NC, as the parent company of the varied Earnhardt businesses, and Teresa works to continue her late husband's legacy through the work of the Dale Earnhardt Foundation.

Trademark dispute

In May 2016, Teresa sued stepson

for using the Earnhardt name in his business venture. Kerry and his wife René were planning to market a line of homes and furniture under the name "The Earnhardt Collection". On July 27, 2017, Teresa won an appeal, which required the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to clarify its decision to allow Kerry to use the name "Earnhardt Collection" in his business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earnhardt, Teresa Living people 1958 births People from Hickory, North Carolina NASCAR team owners

Teresa Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or re ...

Racing drivers' wives and girlfriends