Rodeo cowboy Tex Earnhardt built retail empire

Hal "Tex" Earnhardt Jr. opened his first dealership, a Ford store, a few months shy of his 21st birthday.

It was September 1951. Earnhardt, a rodeo cowboy who got into the dealership business after working at his family's gas station in Chandler, Ariz., sold "one or two" vehicles a month, he told Automotive News in 2014.

That first dealership was the start of what would become a lifelong passion for the car business. Until about three months ago, his family said, Earnhardt showed up to Earnhardt Ford nearly every day to sit in his regular seat at the dealership's cafe and greet dealership customers in person, dressed in his signature cowboy boots and hat, even as his health was in decline. He loved to do it.

Earnhardt, who built that single Ford store into the 21-rooftop Earnhardt Auto Centers dealership group, died April 19, after battling cancer and dementia, his family said. He was 89.

His death was not related to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, his family said.

Earnhardt was born on Dec. 9, 1930, and grew up in Harlingen, Texas, before moving to Chandler, Ariz., as a teenager. He lived on the same ranch in Chandler for 65 years, his family said.

Earnhardt said in 2014 that he heard Ford was looking for dealers from a friend he knew from rodeos who worked for Ford. Initially, he wasn't entirely interested, he'd recalled.

Then his friend said: " 'And we'll furnish you with a pickup,' and I said, 'I'll take it,' " Earnhardt said at the time. "I didn't know what being a Ford dealer was, to be truthful."

Today, Earnhardt Auto Centers ranks No. 26 on Automotive News' list of the 150 top dealership groups, with 29,755 new-vehicle sales and $1.7 billion in revenue in 2019.

The group has dealerships in Arizona and Nevada and retails 17 brands. The company employs about 2,500. Both of Earnhardt's sons and four of his grandchildren work for the family dealership group.

"He instilled in us how we take care of customers, and his famous motto was always, 'Be nice,' " said his son, Hal Earnhardt III, who is president of the dealership group. " 'Treat that customer just like it's your mother.' That was his big motto. He preached that every day."

His other famous motto? "That ain't no bull," a line the family said was born while Earnhardt rode a steer in a parade and someone asked how he managed to keep the bull calm. The line later became the company's tag line in commercials.

Earnhardt turned his passion for rodeos and ranching into a separate business, Earnhardt Ranches, which encompasses three cattle ranches in Arizona, Hal Earnhardt III said.

"I know everybody says it, but he was truly a great man," his son said, adding that his father loved a simple life and was fond of used cars. "They just don't make them like him very often anymore."