Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 20

Braden Colbert, second grader, cheers
for the stock car drivers during the
Speeding to Read Assembly at Texas
Motor Speedway.
Claiming a Triple Crown
E.P. Rayzor pulls off 3-peat as TMS “Speeding to
Read” Champions
S
Story by
Julie Zwahr
Photos by
Cooper
Neill/Getty
Images for
Texas Motor
Speedway and
Julie Zwahr
tudents at E.P. Rayzor Elementary School
bested 10 other campuses from across
the Metroplex in the Texas Motor Speedway’s
“Speeding to Read” competition, winning their
third consecutive reading championship and
finishing with a perfect 100 percent of the
466 students meeting their yearlong goal.
Before a packed house of 4,000 students
on the speedway’s frontstretch, 2013 Indy
500 winner and IndyCar series Champion
Tony Kanaan and NASCAR driver John Hunter
Nemechek presented Principal Mary Dunlevy
with a towering trophy for the three-peat.
“If I’m here, I don’t EVER plan on letting
that trophy leave our possession,” said Ms.
Dunlevy. “Our kids love to read, and this event
provides some tangible rewards for them to
reach beyond and make goals that cause
them to surprise themselves sometimes.”
The 10 schools participating in this year’s
20
contest represented six of the area’s
largest school districts who combined to
read 687,887 books.  There is a ‘race-type’
atmosphere in the contest with TMS tracking
each school’s overall goal during four points
in the school year. The four points are based
on the four turns in a track, with each school
‘sprinting’ toward the finish.
As a reward, students were treated to the
animated “Turbo” Indy-car movie on the
world’s largest TV at the speedway; a six-
lap stock-car race from the Team Texas High
Performance Driving School; as well as a
question and answer session, champion
photos and water pistol shooting contest
with drivers.
Mr. Kanaan and Mr. Nemechek presented
trophies and gift packs to the top individual
readers throughout the assembly. Karina
Singh was named first grade champion for
reading 2,172 books. Second grade champion