Numerous legal battles over data center projects are now raging across the country, but few are as bitter as that involving the Mooresville Technology Park, near Charlotte, North Carolina. Not only are there citizens pushing back against a data center developer, but the conflict also features two members of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt’s family locked in a fierce dispute.

Teresa Earnhardt, the racing legend’s widow and the owner of the land in question, seeks to rezone some 400 rural acres for a $30 billion data center campus. The controversial data center proposal, dubbed Mooresville Technology Park, would add multiple large buildings and an electrical substation on the site. Tract, a Denver-based developer that builds and leases data center campuses, is backing the effort. The Mooresville Board of Commissioners plans a public hearing Sept. 15 ahead of a rezoning vote.

But a growing local coalition—including Earnhardt’s eldest son, Kerry—is vehemently lobbying Mooresville leaders to squash the plan. Kerry Earnhardt, who followed in his father’s footsteps as a NASCAR driver, posted on X to protest the proposed development. “Dad would be livid…Data Centers don’t belong in neighborhoods…natural resources are depleted, wildlife uprooted! The landscape, lives that call this home…forever changed. Build homes w/people loving the land we live as land it’s intended!” The elder Earnhardt, who died in a crash in the Daytona 500 in 2001, was known as an avid outdoorsman.

Mayor Chris Carney indicated the measure is unlikely to pass as proposed. In a Facebook post, he said he can’t support rezoning without knowing the eventual data center tenant—the tech giant that would operate the facility—and its demands for business incentives. Carney, who votes only in the case of a 3–3 tie, said commissioners share his concerns. Tract referred to the news as “disappointing” and said it is evaluating next steps.

Tract has promoted the project as a fiscal win and a low-impact neighbor. In presentations, the company says sound at the nearest homes would be comparable to a refrigerator’s hum and that it would pay for water and power upgrades. Construction would create about 1,000 jobs, with roughly 200 permanent roles afterward, the developer claims.

But community resistance has been passionate and organized. Residents have launched a website to protest the development, planted “No Data Center” signs along country roads, and packed Town Hall meetings. They cite risks to water supply, noise, stress on the electrical grid, and challenged property values. The overriding complaint is that the development will damage this thriving rural community.

The Mooresville clash mirrors a national debate as AI-fueled demand drives a building boom that has seen growing backlash. Some projects are stalling: Tucson’s council recently rejected an Amazon data center; a Kentucky county imposed a moratorium after community pushback.

However, at the federal level, the Trump administration moved in July to speed permitting for data centers, an acknowledgment of the industry’s strategic weight in the AI race. Investment is massive: the U.S. already hosts more than 5,400 data centers, with forecasts projecting trillions in global investment over the next five years.