As the widow of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Teresa is a well-known face in the world of racing. She’s also a businesswoman and the head of Dale Earnhardt Inc., which manages a variety of Earnhardt-related ventures from its home base in Mooresville, North Carolina. She’s also involved with the Dale Earnhardt Foundation, which supports charitable endeavors in areas like children’s education, wildlife conservation, and more.
Teresa was born in Hickory, North Carolina to Hal Houston and his wife. She attended Bunker Hill High School in Claremont, North Carolina and later received a bachelor’s degree in commercial art and interior design from college. She met Dale at a racing event in the late 1970s and married him on November 14, 1982. Together, the couple cultivated a life on their 300-plus acre farm in Mooresville. She’s the mother of their biological daughter, Taylor Nicole Earnhardt, and is the stepmother of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller, and Kerry Earnhardt.
Since Dale’s death in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, she’s been a mainstay of the Earnhardt family and the company. She’s been involved in a few legal disputes over the use of her husband’s name, but she has continued to make an impact through her work with both the foundation and Dale Earnhardt Inc. She even served as the team owner of DEI for several years until the firm merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009.
