For every one of the 338 laps NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte completed during the November 5 race at Texas Motor Speedway, Cheerios and its nonprofit partner First Book donated 43 books to United

Way of Tarrant County. (Labonte races the #43 Cheerios Dodge.)  

The result was 14,534 new books to give to disadvantaged children to encourage reading. United Way is giving the books to homeless and low-income children, youngsters at risk for child abuse and neglect, and those in families

with low reading skills. The books include a Dr. Seuss classic, “Green Eggs and Ham,” and Lauren Thompson’s “Little Quack’s Bedtime,” which Cheerios printed in both English and Spanish.  

The Texas Motor Speedway race was one of 10 NASCAR races across the country involved in the “Race for Books” program of Cheerios and First Book. When the final checkered flag was waved, Labonte had finished 2,951 laps during those races, prompting the donation of 126,893 books in NASCAR communities. According to First Book, more than 60 percent of American low-income
families have no books in their homes for children.