Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations

FORT WORTH, Texas – Enrollment is now open for Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex elementary schools interested in participating in Texas Motor Speedway’s award-winning Speeding To Read educational program for the 2018-19 school year.

Speeding To Read utilizes motorsports, NASCAR and INDYCAR drivers, and races at Texas Motor Speedway to incentivize elementary school students to read more frequently through a reading competition among individuals, classrooms and schools that participate in the program.

Verizon IndyCar Series drivers (R-L) Scott Dixon and Gabby Chaves celebrate with Speeding To Read’s co-school champions E.P. Rayzor of Lantana in May at Texas Motor Speedway.

Speeding To Read enters its eighth year of competition and is coming off a record-breaking 2017-18 where 21 schools and 12,061 students from eight different ISDs – all program highs – took part in the competition. Since the program’s inception in 2011 with one pilot school,Speeding To Read has had 64 schools and 35,735 students participate, including those in seven of the 25 largest ISDs in the Metroplex last year alone, and they collectively have read more than 5.2 million books.

The program is free and the schools that have previously participated range from affluent areas to economically disadvantaged communities with a diverse student make-up. The competition is multi-layered with individuals, classrooms and schools competing against each other to read the most books and earn the title ofSpeeding To Read WorldChampion.

The Speeding To Read competition runs through the majority of the school year and it is split into four turns (or quarters) with the top readers being rewarded at each of those turns. At the conclusion of the competition, the individuals and classrooms that read the most books cumulatively, along with the school that had the highest percentage of its student body meet the year-long reading goals, are crowned world champions.

Seven Hills Elementary School’s Dustyn Still, the top Grade 3-5 individual reader at his school, high fives NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Todd Gilliland during the STR Championship Assembly.

The champions are rewarded with a variety of items, including trophies, NASCAR and INDYCAR race tickets, driver school visits, ice cream and frozen custard parties, and motorsports merchandise, among others, for excelling in the program.

The program has a dedicated website www.speedingtoread.com that features results, news stories, photos and videos from the competition and associated events that is available to faculty, parents and general public.

For those schools seeking more information on the program or wanting to enroll, please contact the Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations Department at pr@texasmotorspeedway.com or 817.215.8520.

The school rosters for the 2018-19 Speeding To Read competition will be finalized by Friday, Aug. 10, with the program kicking off in mid-September.

Texas Motor Speedway’s Speeding To Read program is supported by the following partners: Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas, NASCAR, Verizon IndyCar Series, Lionel Racing, Speedway World, Levy Restaurants, The Speedway Club, aai Trophies and Awards of Plano, Jostens, Woolley’s Frozen Custard and Team Texas High Performance Driving School.