DALE EARNHARDT Family says film contains mistakes

ESPN producers don't have family support for a film on Dale Earnhardt.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As thousands of fans went to Mooresville, N.C., today to celebrate what would have been Dale Earnhardt's 53rd birthday, an ESPN crew will be in Cabarrus County re-creating scenes from the Intimidator's life.
Since mid-April, the TV moviemakers have spent time in the neighborhood where Earnhardt grew up. They've filmed at local red-clay race tracks. They've held open casting calls in Concord to add local flavor.
But as close as ESPN producers say they have gotten to Earnhardt's roots, they don't have approval from the people who were closest to him: his family.
Out of concern for inaccuracies in the script, Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- the company run by Earnhardt's widow, Teresa -- hasn't endorsed the film.
Reviewing second copy
"Our job at Dale Earnhardt Inc. is to perpetuate what Dale was all about," said DEI spokesman Steve Crisp, adding that the company is reviewing a second copy of the script. "To accurately do that, you have to stick with the facts."
One of Earnhardt's sisters said she is upset that ESPN didn't contact her side of the family to discuss Earnhardt's childhood. Because they didn't, she said, the movie gets things wrong, including where her father worked and where her family lived.
Still, producers of the movie say they're being true to Earnhardt and his legacy.
"This isn't a documentary. It instead is a movie that is a dramatic presentation telling the story of Dale Earnhardt," said Will Staeger, executive producer of ESPN Original Entertainment. "We feel we have a pretty good grasp of the essence of the man."
As a Kannapolis, N.C., native who became a racing legend, Earnhardt has long been a hero to people who admired his grit, determination, competitiveness and loyalty to his small-town roots.
Protecting his legacy
But since he died at Daytona in February 2001, the quest to protect his legacy has taken some rough turns.
In spring 2003, the city of Kannapolis tried to figure out whether it could promote a statue of its native son without Teresa Earnhardt's permission. Before the issue was resolved, the city and DEI were speaking to each other only through lawyers.
The city was raising money from NASCAR teams and corporations, and Teresa Earnhardt worried that the statue would become commercialized.
The ESPN movie is creating a different kind of problem for Earnhardt's family. Cathy Watkins, one of Dale Earnhardt's sisters, said the script she's seen gives the wrong message about her father and her childhood.
For example, the movie portrays Earnhardt's childhood home in Kannapolis as a mill house.
Cites inaccuracies
But Watkins said her father, Ralph Earnhardt, never worked at Cannon Mills after his children were born, and her family never lived in a mill house.
"That's a blatant disregard for my daddy's accomplishments and career," she said. "My whole family is so disturbed about it, and we don't know what to do.
"ESPN is very credible. We respect ESPN," she said. "But I'm very concerned about this movie because the facts they have written are not accurate."