Removal of Dale Trail banners have fans and residents pissed off!

[DebWilliams-GFN]

By Deb Williams

When eight NASCAR teams tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 1992, Dale Earnhardt Sr. showed he was just as talented with a bicycle as he was with a race car. During a break, he hopped onto a bicycle's handle bars, facing the rear of the bike, and began peddling the bicycle around the garage, occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure his path was clear.

Earnhardt's back-peddling, however, wasn't nearly as fast as the back-peddling done by Kannapolis officials this week in regards to the criticism they received for removing the Dale Trail banners a few days ago.

The banners, which led race fans on a tour of locations important in the life of the late seven-time NASCAR Cup champion and Kannapolis native, were removed July 24 while teams in NASCAR's top three divisions were in Indianapolis. They were taken down at the request of David Murdock-owned Castle & Cooke, developer of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. Officials said Castle & Cooke requested the banners be removed in preparation for a VIP guest who was expected to tour the research campus with the billionaire on July 26.

The removal of the banners came six days after Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg issued a memo to the Kannapolis City Council saying the Dale Trail banners would be permanently removed. He also said the city planned to spend $25,000 this year on improvements to Dale Earnhardt Plaza in Cannon Village.

DeSales Wagster, president and CEO of the Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the banners would soon be for sale on eBay.com. She said plans called for the funds obtained from the banners to go to Kannapolis as pay back for their removal. She even said she hoped the Dale Trail could be restructured to include more historical markers and audio tours.

That, however, didn't placate Earnhardt fans. In fact, the uproar over the banner removal was so intense that Kannapolis officials placed a letter on the city's Web site this week, reassuring fans that Earnhardt's hometown had “no desire or any plans to change” its “ongoing commitment to honoring Dale Earnhardt and his legacy.”

The letter notes the City of Kannapolis had little to do with the banners, which were jointly purchased several years ago by Atlantic American Properties and the Cabarrus Convention and Visitors Bureau. It said the city's lone role was to assist the CVB in the hanging and removal of the flags based on its decisions.

The letter also noted that Murdock donated the land for the Dale Earnhardt Plaza and paid 100 percent of the costs for the Dale Earnhardt statue. Signed by Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer and Legg, the letter said other ways of marking the trail were under consideration, and the banners were removed because they were “worn and dirty.”

Nearly a week later, it was learned the VIP who Murdock thought was more important than the town's favorite son was Martha Stewart. The situation was handled very poorly by Kannapolis and Cabarrus officials. There was no other way to construe it than as a slap in the face to the Earnhardt family and Earnhardt fans.

Five years ago, 4,800 people lost their jobs when Pillowtex, originally Cannon Mills, shut down in Kannapolis. For generations, the textile mill had been security, a way of life. Mill-town residents are hard workers, who take pride in their families, their schools and their community. They don't like having their values and their hometown heroes insulted. Even though the North Carolina Research Campus is Kannapolis' future, it would behoove city and county officials to remember that it isn't smart to ever do anything deemed derogatory to Earnhardt, otherwise, they will spend a great deal of time back-peddling.