Regional Information

Feel the Need for Speed Hot Wheels® honors Speed, Kansas EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (July 10, 2006) – Mattel today announced plans for a day-long Hot Wheels® festival in the city of Speed, Kan. on Sunday, August 6, to honor the rich automotive history of America’s rural highways. The industry leader in die-cast cars expects a crowd of more than 5,000 people to descend on the small Midwestern city (population 35), and invites collectors and automotive enthusiasts to join in the fun.  “Hot Wheels® is all about speed, power and performance, so holding an event in a city named Speed makes perfect sense," said Geoff Walker, vice president of Wheels Marketing, Mattel Brands. “Speed, Kansas, serves as a classic example of the car culture that emerged from small communities throughout the country where drag racing, engine tweaking and the whole muscle car movement were born, and that’s what this event will be about. We’re celebrating the need for speed in America.” Paying homage to these small town traditions, the celebration will kick off with a parade that is expected to be longer than the 0.2 square-mile city. Led by a life-size Hot Wheels® car, the parade will end in a 45-acre field that will play host to the day’s events. Activities currently slated include an extensive car show of classic vehicles and hot rods, a Miss Hot Wheels® pageant, a motorcycle show, food and local vendors, as well as a few show-stopping surprises. Attendees will receive a commemorative Hot Wheels® event car, while supplies last. This sounded like a great place to go and talk about what God is doing in motorsports.  So early on Sunday morning local TeamRFC Chaplain Bill Bills, along with West Central Regional Director Ken Webb ventured off to Speed, Kansas.  What we found were tons of people who wanted to get there early to latch onto one of the 5000 limited edition Hot Wheels cars made for this event. Hundreds of cars and motorcycles rolled in for the show and shine.  Vendors were hawking their wares and the smell of cooking burgers filled the air.  This small town of Speed had been invaded.  It was truly amazing to see how many people turned out for this event.   The 5000 collector cars disappeared quickly and there were still tons of people waiting in line who were left empty handed. But RFC was not empty handed.  We had set up a booth with literature and Bibles.  During the day there were many people who stopped in to talk.  We met RFC supports from the Kansas region, Christian motorcycle riders as well as many other “gearheads” who are followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.  A few people expressed interest in starting a motorsports outreach within their local churches. So you can see that Speed, Kansas was a great place to go on that bright Sunday morning.  What can be better than cars, bikes and Christ? Read Ken and Kam Webb's Newsletter Region 5 Home Page