KANNAPOLIS — William Simms skipped breakfast, lunch and bathroom breaks just to get into Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium early Sunday with his wife and son.
One of the first to arrive for the Kannapolis service in memory of favorite son Dale Earnhardt, Simms and his family, from Lancaster, S.C., figured enough people would come to fill Charlotte’s 73,000-seat Ericsson Stadium.
“We were scared we weren’t going to get in,” he said. “So we put everything else on hold.”
Fans nearly filled Fieldcrest Cannon’s 4,700 seats and lined up 10 deep in places around the top of them for the ceremony. But police turned no one away for lack of space.
Neither did bad weather drive fans, friends and family away from the ceremony. All day, the skies matched the dark, gloomy mood of the week since Earnhardt died in a crash on the final turn of the Daytona 500, and rain drenched the field just a few hours before the service began.
But at 4:05 p.m., as local singer Rick Allman stood behind the pitcher’s mound practicing “How Great Thou Art,” the sun broke through the clouds for the first time. And later, as fans stood patiently in line waiting to get inside, the clouds retreated to the horizon.
That came just in time for the sun to set stunningly, leaving behind a deep blue and slowly darkening sky and a sliver of moon that winked down at the stadium as if it had something to do with clearing things up for this special evening.
Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered to some if they had been caught in a downpour. They waited and would have waited longer, if need be, to show their respect for a racing legend and personal hero.
Noel and Lisa Heffner of Gastonia were first in line at the gates and glad to be there, even though the schedule for the afternoon said they had hours to stand there before getting inside.
“I stood in line to get his autograph for 15 hours, so what’s the difference?” asked Lisa Heffner, dressed in Earnhardt gear right down to black sneakers with a big red 3 and the driver’s signature on them.
She remembered getting hugs from Earnhardt in the early 1980s when he was still relatively unknown and made promotional appearances at Eastridge Mall in Gastonia. “I’ve been pulling for him for 20 years, so it’s worth standing in line.”
Eager Earnhardt fans began trickling into town as early as 8 a.m. but found they would have to park for hours by the stadium’s two entrances. By the time the gates opened at 3:30 p.m., at least 200 vehicles were already lined up along Moose Road and Lane Street in Kannapolis.
Rowan County Sheriff George Wilhelm said that with national publicity, the size of the turnout was completely unpredictable. More than 100 officers from various agencies patrolled the stadium and directed traffic.
Overflow crowds some officials feared didn’t materialize, maybe due to the threat of rain, maybe because the service was broadcast locally and nationally on television. Still, in the parking lot, license plates showed that people drove from Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, even Nova Scotia, Canada, to attend the service.
Mark, Mary Beth and C.T. Ensor drove down from Baltimore, Md., on Saturday. Mark Ensor said he’s been an Earnhardt fan since the driver’s rookie year in 1979. He’s such a big fan that friends called to console him when Earnhardt died.
“I never saw anybody before drive like him, and nobody after,” Ensor said. “I’ll keep watching racing, but I don’t want to. You’re always going to be wondering, thinking the race would’ve turned out different if he was there.”
He said that a funeral home in Catonsville, Md., a Baltimore suburb, set aside a room for fans to sign memory books, as they have been doing all over the country. Mourners packed the funeral home.
Mary Beth Ensor carried a camera Sunday to record the event, as she said she does all important events in her family’s lives. And their son, C.T., said he liked Earnhardt because the Intimidator raced with his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Many in the crowd said they would now pull for Earnhardt’s son, who drives for a team Earnhardt owned. But some said they hope fans don’t place crushing expectations on Earnhardt Jr., who crashed on the first lap of the NASCAR race in Rockingham Sunday but was not seriously injured.
“I just don’t want to see Junior carry the weight of the world,” said Sue Badger, an attorney and insurance representative who flew from Omaha, Neb., to attend the service. “He can’t be his dad, but he can be our sweetheart.”
Badger saw Earnhardt crash at the Daytona race and still remembers squeezing his hand when she met Earnhardt on July 31, 1994.
“I had to come to say goodbye. He’s been the star of my life,” Badger said.
Not everyone came from far away to pay their respects. This was, after all, a memorial service for Earnhardt’s family and his fans and friends in Kannapolis, many of whom consider themselves extended family and remember his stock car racing father, Ralph, and Earnhardt’s early days.
Jessica Eagle and Kristy Kerley, both of Kannapolis, carried homemade signs with messages of grief and love for their fallen hero. Both said they are cousins of Earnhardt’s.
“It’s hard,” said Eagle, 16. “We still can’t get over the thought of him being gone, but we’re getting through it.”
Kerley, 20, said she is not so much a racing fan as an Earnhardt fan.
“As long as we’ve got No. 8, and we’ve still got an Earnhardt on the track, we’re still gonna be there,” she said.
Lisa Hager of Salisbury came with her husband, Jimmy, a Kannapolis native, and their daughter, Jessica. Lisa wore an Earnhardt bandanna and a shirt decorated with Earnhardt pictures and logos. The family’s living room is filled with Earnhardt memorabilia, she said.
“He didn’t care what people thought about him,” said Hager, who met Earnhardt in 1998 when Kannapolis officials presented his mother, Martha, with a key to the city. “He was nice to all of his fans, and he made time to talk to them.”
As fans filed into the stadium Sunday evening, gospel and country music — some of the songs about racing and some about Earnhardt himself — played over the public address system, interspersed with quotes from Earnhardt about his sport and from fans reacting to his death.
Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, the chain of racetracks that includes Lowe’s Motor Speedway, watched the ceremony from a sky box. Like many of the fans, Smith said he had come to believe that Earnhardt was invincible.
“I have been as amazed as anyone” at Earnhardt’s death, he said. “I don’t think anyone expected this to happen to one of the greatest drivers. ... He’s a legend.”
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