FORT WORTH – Two-time defending champion E.P. Rayzor Elementary School will be among the 10 schools that will compete in Texas Motor Speedway’s Speeding To Read educational program for the 2016-17 school year.

Beginning today, more than 5,000 kindergarten through fifth-grade students will take part in the nine-month reading competition that encompasses seven Dallas/Fort Worth school districts, including the two largest having multiple schools involved.

Dallas, the area’s largest independent school district, will be represented by Nathan Adams Elementary and Tom C. Gooch Elementary while Fort Worth, the second-largest ISD, will have Carroll Peak Elementary and Lewisville, the sixth largest, will have B.B. Owen Elementary in the reading competition.

Justin Elementary, Cox Elementary and Hatfield Elementary will represent the Northwest ISD, which will have the most schools from a single district taking part this school year. Single-school district representatives will be Lantana’s E.P. Rayzor (Denton ISD) and Brent Elementary (Little Elm) in addition to B.B. Owen Elementary.

Overall, Speeding To Read will have schools representing five of the top 20 school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as the program enters its sixth year.

The program is coming off a record-setting 2015-16 as Speeding To Read established new highs for the number of schools (11) and students (6,500) participating in the program for a school year. The students also set a record for most books read with 1,098,074 and Rayzor became the first school to have a perfect season with its entire student body reaching the reading goals for the entire year.

Since Speeding To Read began in 2011-12 with one pilot school, 33 schools and nearly 19,000 students have participated and combined to read more than three million books in the program’s five-year existence.

Speeding To Read, named the “Best Youth Marketing Initiative” by the NASCAR industry in 2014, is an incentive-based, NASCAR and INDYCAR-themed reading program to encourage elementary school students to read more frequently during the school year.

Student bodies are split into two divisions – kindergarten through second grade and third through fifth grade – with individuals, classrooms and schools competing against each other to read the most books and earn the title of Speeding To Read champions.

Texas Motor Speedway provides signage ranging from a cartoon rendition of Texas Motor Speedway to street signs named after NASCAR and INDYCAR stars for every school to enhance the motorsports theme in the hallways and classrooms. Throughout the competition, top students are rewarded with an array of prize packs ranging from merchandise to NASCAR and INDYCAR race tickets at Texas Motor Speedway.

The competition concludes in late May with all the schools attending a championship assembly in the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands with NASCAR and INDYCAR drivers serving as special guests at the event. The top individuals, classrooms and school champions are recognized and earn prizes including trophies and race tickets. The top schools earn either a Woolley’s Frozen Custard party or Domino’s pizza party for the entire student body and the top classrooms earn Texas Motor Speedway popcorn parties during the final week of school.

An additional benefit of the Speeding To Read program is the return of the Lionel Racing “Design A Die-cast” competition for the third consecutive year. Students who meet or exceed their reading goals will get the opportunity to participate in the art competition, where they design their own paint scheme for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. The top design from Grades K-2 and 3-5 will be recreated and produced on an actual 1:24 scale, hood-opening, trunk-opening die-cast by Lionel Racing, the Official Die-Cast of NASCAR, and presented to the winning students.

Texas Motor Speedway’s Speeding To Read program is supported by the following partners: aai Trophies and Awards of Plano, Domino’s, Lionel Racing, NASCAR, Score A Goal in the Classroom, Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Properties, Team Texas High Performance Driving School, The Speedway Club, Verizon IndyCar Series and Woolley’s Frozen Custard.

For more information on Texas Motor Speedway’s Speeding To Read, please visit www.speedingtoread.com.

Story and photo courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations