Kevin Harvick surprises students at Texas elementary school
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Some 800 students at Samuel Beck Elementary School in Trophy Club, Texas, got a big surprise Thursday, when Kevin Harvick showed up for their school assembly.
Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, recognized fourth-grader Jenna Johnson for winning the Lionel Racing "Design A Die-cast" competition as part of Texas Motor Speedway's Speeding To Read program, which includes 11 schools and more than 6,500 students.
Johnson's black car featured the school's mascot -- a bulldog -- on a blue hood, books on the sides of the doors and reading glasses on the roof. It also had yellow, orange and red flames on the back of each wheel well.
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"I'm just very happy and very excited," Johnson said. "When I was drawing this design, I just thought about the school and it reminded me of Bulldogs, so I put a bulldog on my car and some cool designs."
Harvick gave Johnson a 1:24-scale Lionel Racing die-cast that replicated her winning design, as well as an autographed 1:24-scale die-cast of his No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet and four tickets to Saturday night's Duck Commander 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
"That was a really cool deal and a lot of fun," Harvick said. "This is a great program that Texas Motor Speedway has and you can see the kids are really excited about Speeding To Read. I can tell you that 800 screaming kids can make your ears hurt."