ACTON – Read, Win, Race is a program that encourages kids to read and this weekend it culminated with some fast driving at the Yellowstone Drag Strip on Saturday.
Canyon Creek, Elysian and Trinity Lutheran competed.
“Great reading program,” said Dale Sekora, organizer of Read, Race, Win. “It’s been really exciting.”
Earlier in the day, the racers learned about the sport and ran some time trials.
“It was great, said Luke Shelton, principal at Elysian. “That’s the first time I’ve ever been down a drag strip so it was a lot of fun.“
“It was a lot of fun,” said Earl Ross, facility manager at Canyon Creek. “First time I’ve done that but I can see how people enjoy drag racing.”
“Mr. Thomas just ran 18 and a half seconds at 76 miles an hour,” Sekora said about Trinity principal Rick Thomas. “And he acts like one of his fourth-grade kids right now. He is excited.”
“Well I don’t want to brag but yeah, so far in the first time trial I’m up,” Thomas said.
The cars in the pit area have a little more power than what the principals are driving, but that does not slow down the excitement and motivation for the students.
“The kids knew that in the end, after all their reading, they would earn prizes but the ultimate goal is to come to the races,” Ross said.
“My excitement has been more in listening to the parents,” Sekora said. “One little girl in the sixth grade, her little brother said can I have your hot wheels prize you’re going to get. And she said, no you can go earn your own hot wheels. So those stories have been priceless. Those have been awesome.”
“What an awesome way to inspire kids to do some reading and that’s what this is all about,” Shelton said.
“Dale’s done a great job of organizing it and the kids are really getting into it,” Ross said.
“We thanked him for it and said you know what, next year it’s going to be a breeze because you put in all this hard work now,” Thomas said. “And it’s just going to continue to grow.”
Sekora said he expects to expand Read, Win, Race to nine schools in 2020.
Reporting by David Jay for MTN News
