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FORT WORTH, Texas (April 6, 2017) -- Before a rousing crowd of nearly 500 elementary school students at B.B. Owen in The Colony, Darrell Wallace Jr. made a visit to surprise fourth-grader Xavier Gooden with a Lionel Racing 1:24 scale die-cast bearing his winning design.
The school welcomed Wallace in grand fashion with a police escort; The Colony High School drum line, cheerleaders and Top Cats performing at the entrance; welcome signs; and a balloon-shaped Victory Lane on the school stage for his special appearance on behalf of Texas Motor Speedway's Speeding To Read program.
After the school's top readers were acknowledged, Gooden was announced as the overall winner of the competition among the 5,000 students and 10 DFW schools competing in Speeding To Read this school year.
Gooden's design, which was pink, blue and green, was themed "Cure Cancer 2017" and had blue ribbons for colon cancer awareness. The paint scheme was dedicated to his two grandmothers with colon cancer, one of which he lost recently and the other -- Clara Simmons -- that was on hand for the presentation with several family members.
The students presented Wallace, the driver of the No. 6 Leidos Ford Mustang, with a "good luck" banner for Saturday's My Bariatric Solutions 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway as well as a B.B. Owen Elementary T-shirt as the honored guest.
He also participated with students in a NASCAR quiz game; signed autographs and took photos with numerous students; toured the school including the hallway of die-cast designs; and finished with a photo in the "selfie" No. 6 car the students created for him and then signed the classroom door that featured his car number and sponsor.
The assembly became emotional when Gooden explained to the audience that his paint scheme was a tribute to his two grandmothers, one who recently passed away and the other who was on hand for the presentation along with his parents and several other family members. She came on stage in tears to give her grandson a big embrace for his tribute. Wallace also teared up from the tribute, thinking of his Granny Jan who passed away this past fall in Knoxville, Tennessee, and provided a warm embrace to Gooden's grandmother when she came on stage.
What They Are Saying
"I just don't know what to say. I am just speechless." - Xavier Gooden on stage after he was presented his paint scheme on a 1:24 scale Lionel Racing NASCAR Authentics die-cast.
"It (paint scheme) was for my grandmas because they both had colon cancer, but one sadly didn't survive. But the grandma on my dad's side, she is still around. It was really cool to have my grandma here. I didn't know everyone (from my family) was going to come and they did." -- Gooden on his paint scheme that was a tribute to his two grandmothers.
"That was special -- touching. It's still something that is really sensitive to me. I didn't expect the waterworks to come out, but it definitely happened." -- Bubba Wallace on losing his Granny Jan in November and getting tearful when hearing of Gooden's paint scheme tribute.
"That was huge. We kind of played a little joke on them with our travel disaster we had today. We were able to make it here a little bit late, but brought the kids a face they wanted to see. It was a good time. A lot of cheers, screams. Not even a couple boos like I get at the track; it was all positive and that was a lot of fun walking out and getting to spend some time with the kids at B.B. Owen." -- Wallace on the rousing reception of nearly 500 students, parents and special guests at the full-school assembly.
"It was cool having Xavier's family here. He is such a bright, young kid. He's got a lot going for him. He's exciting, he loves living life to the fullest each and every day. You can see that on his face. He is taking it all in. He understands everything that is going on around him. Keeping his family close. That's something I strive for the same thing." -- Wallace on Gooden after meeting him and his family at the assembly.
"This is our third year doing this and it's been really great. It is something that Lionel Racing looks forward to every year. This is the first year we've ever put a car in our NASCAR Authentics line. Just to watch the kids get so excited about reading -- it's something really cool that Texas Motor Speedway does -- it is something I would hope other tracks would eventually take on and do as well." -- Lionel Racing Director of e-Commerce and Marketing Thomas DeBoyace.
"Just being here you get the goosebumps and you see the emotions -- even with Bubba just losing a family member as well. All the cars were great but this one specifically being a child that was attached to cancer and had been affected by it -- it was really good how he did it on the car in honor of his family member. It was phenomenal. It was like a no-brainer to pick this one as our winner for the year." -- DeBoyace on the winning design and presentation of the die-cast to Gooden.
"It is truly special to see the impact that Lionel Racing, Bubba and Texas Motor Speedway can make with our elementary school visits to acknowledge the die-cast winners and the top readers," Texas Motor Speedway Vice President of Media Relations Mike Zizzo. "Having our industry inspire kids to read more frequently, find their artistic talents and dream big is an honor for all of us involved."
Fast Fact
Another significant reward of winning the Lionel Racing "Design A Die-Cast" competition is that Gooden's design will be included in Lionel Racing's commercial NASCAR Authentics die-cast line featuring all the cars of the sport's stars that is expected out in December. Gooden's car will be available in major retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us and Target. Proceeds from his car sales will be donated by Lionel Racing and the NASCAR Foundation to a designated charity in Gooden's name.
"First time ever they are going to be at Walmart, Target, Toys 'R Us and our NASCAR Authentics line," DeBoyace said. "Our NASCAR enthusiasts will collect these cars and actually get them and put them as part of their collection now with a great story behind it, with money going to charity. Knowing that a kid that is so passionate about reading and getting things done and designing his own car, it was just really cool."