Daytona International Speedway’s “Back To School” Program Continues Friday with Visit to Palm Terrace Elementary With Special Gifts for the Students and Faculty
With the New School Year Also Comes the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola & “Last-Chance” Coke Zero Sugar 400 at The World Center of Racing
PHOTO CUTLINES: (Top Photo) Students at Turie T. Small Elementary School in Daytona Beach recently received some cool swag as part of Daytona International Speedway’s Back-to-School ’Meet the Teacher’ program, which started last week. (Bottom Photo) Joy Boyd-Walker (third from left), Turie T. Small Elementary School Principal, is joined by Daytona International Speedway’s (l to r) Lauren Reheuser, Kelsey Williams, Josh Harris, Josh Pena and Giancarlo Fuentes by the Pace Car of the World Center of Racing. The program continues tomorrow morning at Palm Terrace Elementary School.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA (Aug. 18, 2022) – The incoming students and faculty at Turie T. Small Elementary School were not the only ones preparing for the school year last week.
On Friday, Aug. 12, Daytona International Speedway drove one of its eye-catching 2022 Pace
Cars (at the school zone speed limit of course) to the school entrance to surprise students at their ‘Meet the Teacher’ event with cool swag and grandstand tickets for the speedway’s upcoming Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Friday, Aug. 26 (part of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 weekend). The visit was part of a “Back-to-School” partnership between Daytona International Speedway and four local elementary schools.
Around 500 students were at the Turie T. Small event, preparing for the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 15 by meeting their teachers for the 2022-2023 school year. The students also met their new principal, Joy Boyd-Walker, as she greeted the K – 5th graders who seemed just as eager to be back with their peers.
Editor’s Note: For photos from last Friday’s “Back-to-School” event at Turie T. Small event, click here. For Video from the school event, click here. For Coke Zero Sugar 400 and Wawa 250 logos, along with B-Roll video from the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 and 2022 DAYTONA 500 (featuring NASCAR’s ’Next Gen’ car), click here.
“The kids and their parents absolutely loved seeing the pace car and receiving all those goodies today,” said Principal Boyd-Walker. “We’re excited to get the school year started, and the community support from Daytona International Speedway has been phenomenal.”
Along with the pace car and “swag bags,” which were filled with branded lanyards, sunglasses, stickers, notepads and more, NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway staffers brought 100 tickets to the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola – the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
“We really wanted to do something special for our local community and schools here in Daytona Beach,” said Josh Harris, VP of Client and Event Experience for DIS. “I’m really happy we could be here at Turie T. Small and show our support for the kids as they get ready to start the school year.”
Nearly two weeks ago, the speedway sponsored the Volusia Back to School Bash Presented by Daytona International Speedway at the Volusia Mall. Over 2,700 families attended the event, where DIS provided branded “swag bags” filled with notepads, pens, and other back-to-school materials to several hundreds of children and families.
As part of that same initiative, Daytona International Speedway is teaming up with the school principals to present the “Drive Your Future” Award. Principals will honor one student per month, based off performance or behavior, and with the award, those students will receive four passes to tour the historic World Center of Racing along with other gifts. All award-winning students will also be offered breakfast with their principal, joined by Daytona International Speedway President Frank Kelleher at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
Tomorrow morning, Friday, Aug. 19, the track’s pace car is set again to make the trip from International Speedway Boulevard to Palm Terrace Elementary, to congratulate their kindergarten class on completing their first week of school. In addition, the track will be delivering 100 Wawa 250 tickets, 600 backpacks with back-to-school supplies, PLUS an ice cream party for one classroom.
As Daytona International Speedway welcomes the students in the local community back to school, it’s also preparing to welcome NASCAR drivers and fans back to the iconic 2.5-mile, trio-oval track.
The Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola is set to get the green flag on Friday, Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET, and will feature seasoned veterans and “young guns” of the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The following day, on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m., it’s the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the last-chance race in the regular season to gain a spot in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
For more information about Daytona International Speedway and the upcoming race weekend, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com.
Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as the all-new NASCAR Tracks App, for the latest speedway news.
About Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a state-of-the-art motorsports facility and was awarded the SportsBusiness Journal’s prestigious Sports Business Award for Sports Facility of the Year in 2016. Daytona International Speedway is the home of The Great American Race – the DAYTONA 500. Though the season-opening NASCAR Cup Series event garners most of the attention – as well as the largest audience in motorsports – the approximately 500-acre motorsports complex, also known as the World Center of Racing, boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe. In addition to at least nine major event weekends, the Speedway grounds are also used extensively for events that include concerts, civic and social gatherings, car shows, photo shoots, production vehicle testing and police motorcycle training. The iconic venue was the site of a host of motorsports events early in 2022, beginning with AHRMA Classic Motofest and the Rolex 24 At DAYTONA in January, and the 64th DAYTONA 500, which debuted the first points race for NASCAR’s ‘Next Gen’ car as part of Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth, in February. The tradition-rich 81st Annual Bike Week At DAYTONA returned in March, featuring DAYTONA Supercross and the DAYTONA 200. May saw the “Welcome to Rockville” concert and the Heroes Honor Festival while during July 4th weekend, the track, in association with Torneos, hosted the first annual Daytona Soccer Fest. The NASCAR Cup Series returns for the final race of the regular season with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Aug. 27 while Saturday, Aug. 26 will see the Wawa 250 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
