Earnhardt's hometown mourns, awaits decision
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
August 17, 2001
6:00 PM EDT (2200 GMT)
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - "Dale Earnhardt, from Kannapolis, N.C."
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Fieldcrest Cannon headquarters
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That's what 130,000 people heard every Sunday when Dale Earnhardt was introduced to the crowd. For the 35,000 people in Kannapolis, their town was Dale Earnhardt, or the other way around.
The town, located about 15 miles northeast of Lowe's Motor Speedway on I-85, is still feeling the loss of its hero and neighbor.
On August 21, NASCAR is reportedly going to reveal the findings from a investigation into what caused Earnhardt's death. No matter what the report says regarding safety, the residents of this mill town will still be hurting.
The largest employer and known company in Kannapolis is Fieldcrest Cannon - the towel maker. With a handful of plants located within the city limits, the huge brick structures can't be missed.
A triple-set of train tracks runs along the plant and through a town featured by brick sidewalks and variety of clothing and furniture stores alongside one another.
What also runs through the town is an emotional connection to its fallen native son. When they had "Dale Earnhardt Day" on October 5, 1995 with a parade and everything for their hometown hero, it came out of love.
Towel City Retreading Company is a family-owned tire business that's been open in the same location since 1935. Located just off of N. Cannon Blvd, they began handling racing tires for drivers in the 1950s.
Names like Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough have raced on their tires. It was also the place Dale Earnhardt and his father, Ralph, were known to get their racing rubber.
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Downtown Kannapolis
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Herb Cauble runs the business. He says that no matter what the investigation says, it still doesn't change what has taken place.
"When we found out Dale died, this whole town went into slow motion, we were shocked and numb for weeks." Herb Cauble said. "We felt, and still do feel, a great loss. We didn't know what to do and what was going to become of racing.
"I am not blaming anyone for anything, NASCAR has done the right thing by doing this investigation and I hope something good comes out of it. But, you know who the big loser in all of this has been is Bill Simpson. He has done so much good for this sport and I feel bad for him."
Cauble sits in his office with a company logo on his gray T-shirt, wearing dark-blue work pants and work boots. He has many fond memories of his former customer.
"Dale used to come around here with his first car owner Ray Oliver," Cauble said. "Ray owned that pink K2 car that Dale drove. Talk about making a man work for his success.
"He put him in that pink car because he wanted him to be a tougher driver. If Dale won the heat or qualified well, Ray would make him start in the back so he would know what it was like to have to work for a win."
On the one wall hangs a yellowed picture of Ray Oliver and a cowboy-hatted Earnhardt, with long hair sticking out from underneath it.
Cauble may have had a personal connection with Earnhardt because of his business, but others in the town felt that closeness, too.
Dennis Pope, 35, and Steve Vaughn, 32, are both lifelong residents of Kannapolis and meat cutters at a local grocery store. Having lunch at the racing-theme Bar-B-Q Pit Stop on N. Cannon Blvd., they still feel Earnhardt's death.
"I wasn't as big an Earnhardt fan as I am a Rusty Wallace fan," Pope said. "Heck, I took a big enough ribbing about that in this town. But, losing Dale was devastating because he was the sport. It's been tough."
With the results of the investigation pending, Pope isn't sure if any great revelations will come out of it.
"First off, it's taken too long," he said. "I really don't think they'll come up with anything new. I don't think they're going to say it was a seat belt as much as they're going to say it was an accident.
"They didn't make this big an issue of out of it when Kenny Irwin, Adam Petty and Tony Roper were killed. When this investigation is over I just hope they let it all go and let Dale rest."
Vaughn, on the other hand, is a steadfast follower of his hometown hero. The married father of four has been a race fan for 20 years, and picking his favorite driver was made easier by their shared roots.
"You never hear of anybody coming out of here in Kannapolis being famous," he said. "Between that, and he drove a Chevy, that was the main reason he was very popular around here."
Vaughn felt no imminent danger to his driver when first seeing the fatal Turn 4 wreck on TV. As the impending details of the report are yet to be revealed, all he hopes is it answers some questions as to what happened.
"I was watching that race and it took at least two days for it to sink in that it happened," he said. "It is such a big loss for Kannapolis and everybody.
"You look at that wreck and it doesn't look like that bad of one. So, I maybe kind of wonder if something didn't break. Whether it's whoever made the car is at fault, or seat belt, whatever. I think something failed somewhere."
He still follows NASCAR but has shifted his allegiance to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the other Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers -- Steve Park and Michael Waltrip.
Another business with the departed icon's name on it is Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet in Newton, N.C. Larry Honeycutt, a former employee there, worked five years at the dealership as a salesman.
"The one thing that always amazed me about him was that he truly cared about his employees," Honeycutt said. "He would always stop and ask about your family and how everyone was doing.
"Right after we lost him, I was in denial. I didn't want to think it was possible for someone like him to be gone so suddenly. I thought it was all a bad dream.
"Only until recently have I started to accept and start to deal with it."
In regards to the investigation findings, Honeycutt hopes it's more for the future than what already has happened.
"I hope it comes up with something to prevent this from happening again. I've spent a lot of time in the racing garage area and I can put personalities with the faces of drivers. I can put the wives' faces and their children with them, as well.
"All those people are special and I'd really hate to see what happened in Daytona happen again. Everything, supposedly, happens for a reason and I hope this investigation helps so it doesn't happen to someone else."
Honeycutt still can't shake the loss of his friend.
"I'll be honest with you," he says with a pause. "I still think about him every single day."
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