Seventy-five years ago, on a stretch of Arizona highway in Chandler, a dream took root. Today, Earnhardt Auto Centers is a household name — with 17 dealerships across the Valley — but it started with a businessman from Texas, Hal Earnhardt, and his 20-year-old son, Tex.
In 1951, Tex became the youngest owner of a Ford franchise and planted the seed of expansion that would make the company a leader in the Valley’s auto industry. Tex still holds the record as the youngest franchisee in Ford’s history. And as the company celebrates its 75th anniversary, Earnhardt Auto now is among the 13 percent of American family-owned businesses that survive into the third generation.
“There are people who live in a community, and then there are people who are part of a community,” says Christopher Kerr, the company’s vice president of marketing. “Earnhardt is a family-owned business, but I don’t work for a family-owned business … we work for a family that owns this big business.”
And that business isn’t limited to selling Fords. In the late 1970s, Tex added a Chrysler franchise. In the years since, the company’s portfolio has grown to include Buick, Cadillac, Kia and more.
Although Tex died in 2020, Kerr says his spirit endures, even beyond the dealership doors. From the founding of the company, Tex knew the importance of giving back. To this day, Earnhardt’s charitable contributions support Valley law enforcement, educational programs, youth athletics and animal welfare.
“You can’t just be for Arizona; you’ve got to be about Arizona,” Kerr says. Or, in Tex’s own words, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Tex believed in the principles that characterize life in the Southwest — courage, community, resourcefulness — and used them to lay the foundation for his company. Kerr says Tex’s authenticity even inspired the famous “No Bull” slogan that drives the company.
Today, that highway in Chandler is filled with cars that carry Tex’s name. And although Arizona’s roads no longer look the same, Earnhardt Auto continues to honor the values that shaped it.