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Farewell NASCAR community mourns Earnhardt with memorial
Updated: Thursday February 22, 2001 8:05 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Fellow drivers and team members took a day away from the NASCAR circuit Thursday to pay their respects to Dale Earnhardt, killed last weekend in the final lap of the Daytona 500. On a cold, rainy day, drivers, crew members, racing sponsors and friends gathered with Earnhardt's family at Calvary Church for a televised memorial service. At the end of the brief service, Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, walked to the front of the church and turned toward a section where NASCAR drivers and officials were seated. She put her hands to her lips, extended them to the group and twice whispered, "Thank you." Then, with their young daughter Taylor, she was escorted from the church by a state trooper. Flowers, including an arrangement in the shape of Earnhardt's No. 3, covered the altar in place of a coffin. Earnhardt, 49, was buried Wednesday at an undisclosed location after a family only service in nearby Mooresville.
Thursday's service was simple, featuring songs by country music star Randy Owen. The congregation includes drivers Terry and Bobby Labonte, Jerry Nadeau, and Bobby and Donnie Allison; raceway executives Bruton Smith and Eddie Gossage; and members of the Earnhardt team, wearing black shirts with the shop logo on the pocket. Legendary driver Junior Johnson, who raced against Earnhardt's father, Ralph, and met the NASCAR star as a child, paid his respects as well. "NASCAR will know that Earnhardt ain't in that race in Rockingham and it will hurt for a little while," Johnson said. "It'll get by, but it's going to hurt. It's a sad day for NASCAR and the sport." Dale Beaver, a chaplain with the Motor Racing Outreach ministry, eulogized Earnhardt not as The Intimidator, but as a warm and caring father. He described his anxiety when he first met the driver, interrupting his lunch to get permission for Taylor to go on a camping trip. "I thought, 'He's eating bear and I'm going to be dessert,'" Beaver said. But, he recalled, "I didn't come into the presence of a racing icon or an intimidating figure. I came into the presence of a dad, a father, who was concerned about his daughter." Outside the massive, glass-walled church, fans whose clothes bore No. 3 milled about before the 22-minute service.
Truck driver Scott Poole and three friends made a 7 1/2-hour trip from Hagerstown, Md., just to stand outside the invitation-only ceremony. Poole said he has been an Earnhardt fan since 1987, when Earnhardt spoke to him and other young competitors in a soapbox derby. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, just to be part of the memory," he said. With racing to resume this weekend at Rockingham, the NASCAR community has had little time to grieve. Driver Rusty Wallace said he would need the service to properly say goodbye to his friend and rival. "None of us were ready to let Dale go and we will miss him terribly," Wallace said. "God only created one Dale Earnhardt and no one will ever replace him, neither in our sport or in our hearts." Expressions of sympathy for Earnhardt's family extended far beyond the memorial service. At Texas Motor Speedway, officials said all on-track activity would be halted during the service. Charlotte-area funeral homes offered the public guest books to sign, as did funeral homes in eastern parts of the state. Outside North Carolina, funeral homes as far away as Ohio and New York did the same. And a funeral home in Rocky Mount planned a Thursday night memorial service for Earnhardt. "We're going to have a pastor speak. We've got people lined up to read poems and sing. The phone's been ringing off the hook," said Jackie Chartier of Bowling Funeral Home in Rocky Mount. The funeral home printed 400 memorial service programs and expected a capacity crowd. Bright Funeral Home in Wake Forest had a guest book for fans to sign that will be sent to the Earnhardt family. By Wednesday afternoon, more than 200 people had signed the book. "We have just been overwhelmed by the response," said Randy Bright, a partner in the business. "There hasn't been a line, but there has been no time when someone wasn't in that room." One couple left the funeral home driving a truck on which was painted "Goodbye Dale," Bright said. At Brown-Wynne's funeral chapel near downtown Raleigh, a guest book was attracting steady attention. General Manager Harold Hill said books were available at all three Raleigh-area chapels. Outside the state, Earnhardt fans looked for ways to express themselves. Nearly 500 fans came to a Saratoga Springs, N.Y., funeral home to sign a registry. A funeral home in Olean, N.Y., planned a memorial service Saturday.
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