Remembering Dale

Remembering Dale

Today, April 29, is Dale Earnhardt Day in Kannapolis, N.C.

Usually, when you have a day set aside for someone, they’re a big deal in the local community, in history or commerce or sport.

Dale Earnhardt was all of those, for sure, but a lot more too.

Kannapolis is a mill town, or it was before Cannon Mills closed down and threw a couple generations of families for a loop. No matter what was going on at the mill, however, there was always a source of pride to be had in the exploits of ol’ No. 3.

When he died, at Daytona in 2001, it hit the racing world like a thunderbolt. Nowhere did it strike as hard as it did in Cabarrus County. Sure, other racers are based here, and other teams call it home, but Dale was a son of the South, this particular little piece of it.

Sure, he had his base up the road a bit near Mooresville, in Iredell County, but his roots were the green and white of A.L. Brown High School, the red of the clay surrounding the farmer’s fields and the bricks of the old mill buildings.

Dale Earnhardt Day, which is every April 29, honors the birthday of the man that made Kannapolis a household name. Cannon Village, where the bronze statue of him holds center stage, is a buzzing place even in the rain that is falling on the city.

If you have a minute today, just cast a quick prayer up for the spirit of the Intimidator, and remember what he meant to so many,