Dale Earnhardt Jr. has turned part of his property near Mooresville, North Carolina, into an unusual collection of racing history.
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Jr. → turn → history
More than 75 wrecked race cars are scattered across his estate, which includes a private “Racecar Graveyard” and a Wild West-style town called Whisky River.
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which → wreck → Graveyard
According to NASCAR, the idea began with cars that Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports team had damaged while competing in late-model racing.
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team → accord → racing
The team had spent money building the cars, so instead of sending the wrecked vehicles to be scrapped, Earnhardt began storing them in the woods around his property.
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Earnhardt → spend → property
Over time, the collection grew and became a place for cars with links to different moments in NASCAR racing.
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collection → grow → racing
Earnhardt has also imagined that the collection could remain there long after he is gone.
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he → imagine → ?
He has earlier explained that he hoped people in the distant future might walk through the woods, discover the wrecked cars and wonder why they were there.
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they → explain → cars
“Just like that Western town I built,” Earnhardt said, referring to Whisky River.
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Earnhardt → build → River
“It will be there hopefully long after I’m gone, and somebody will walk back there and go, ‘What in the hell is this doing here? And who put it here?’
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who → go → it
And then my name will come up, and they’ll remember me,” he added.
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he → come → me
The collection is not arranged like a conventional museum.
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collection → arrange → museum
Some cars have been used as trail markers, while others have been placed in unusual locations around the property.
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others → use → property
Earnhardt said there are also separate car parts, including sides and noses, as well as hoods hanging from trees.
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Earnhardt → say → trees
How race car graveyard began
Earnhardt’s collection goes back to the period when JR Motorsports was competing in late models.
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Motorsports → begin → models
Rather than throwing away cars after they were wrecked, the team started keeping them on the property.
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team → throw → property
Earnhardt said around half of the cars in the woods were connected to his company.
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half → say → company
The wrecked vehicles did not simply sit unused from the beginning.
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vehicles → wreck → beginning
According to Earnhardt, some were used for target practice, while others became markers along trails.
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others → accord → trails
As more race teams heard about his interest in old and damaged cars, the collection expanded beyond vehicles connected to his own team.
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collection → hear → team
One of the cars came from Brad Keselowski’s family.
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One → come → family
It had been owned by Keselowski’s father and was crashed by Dennis Setzer during a Nationwide race at Talladega.
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It → own → Talladega
Another is one of Keselowski’s old trucks, with its front end buried in a creek.
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end → bury → creek
Earnhardt also managed to collect cars connected to some memorable NASCAR incidents.
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Earnhardt → manage → incidents
One example is the car Juan Pablo Montoya was driving when he struck a jet dryer at Daytona.
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he → drive → Daytona
Chip Ganassi donated that car, but with a condition that photographs of it should not be taken.
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photographs → donate → it
Another vehicle in the collection is the Jimmie Johnson car that was penalised over its C-posts at Daytona and was wrecked early in that race.
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that → penalise → race
Some wrecked race cars were placed around Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s property.
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cars → wreck → property
More cars kept arriving
Earnhardt continued adding vehicles whenever teams were willing to give them away.
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teams → keep → them
In 2014, two more cars arrived after they were wrecked at Kansas.
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they → arrive → Kansas
They belonged to Justin Allgaier and David Gilliland.
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They → belong → Allgaier
For the Allgaier car, Earnhardt simply contacted his friend Steve Addington, who was the crew chief and competition director for owner Harry Scott Jr.’s team.
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who → contact → team
Earnhardt explained why he made the request, “I know Harry Scott pretty well, so I figured if they were going to throw it away, I could at least have it.”
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I → explain → it
The collection had become large enough by then that Earnhardt could not say exactly how many cars were on his property.
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cars → become → property
The cars were spread across the woods, with additional parts and pieces stored in different places.
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parts → spread → places
That became a problem when fans started asking whether they could visit the graveyard.
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they → become → graveyard
Earnhardt said he felt bad that people could not simply come and see the collection because it was located on his private property.
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it → say → property
“The hard part is, people want to know if there’s tours or if they can come look at it,” Earnhardt said.
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Earnhardt → want → it
“So I feel kind of bad, because it’s on my property,” he added.
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he → feel → property
One car was missing for a year
By 2019, the collection had grown to more than 75 cars and had become known as the “Racecar Graveyard” at Earnhardt’s Dirty Mo Acres estate.
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collection → miss → estate
The size of the collection even meant that Earnhardt could lose track of individual cars.
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Earnhardt → mean → cars
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
