John Terrell was ready to de-board his plane destined for the Dominican Republic in April after his cell phone rang with some startling news.
The news he received would allow him and his wife, Carol, to take a number of trips to the Dominican Republic - or any vacation destination for that matter - in the coming years if they so choose to do so.
The voice on the other end confirmed him as the winner of the inaugural 50/50 Raffle benefitting Speedway Children's Charities-Texas Chapter during April's O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 NASCAR doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway. The prize split that the Oklahoma City couple would take home was $48,087.
On Thursday, the Terrells made their way to Texas Motor Speedway to pick up their check and they were greeted with a standing ovation by speedway staff members and a giant check presentation in the infield media center.
"They called and told me that I won and I could come get the check, so I was ready to get off that plane right then," said John Terrell, a speedway season ticket holder for the past 20 years. "But it's really great to be here today. We have been to a lot of places. We have season tickets at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway), too. But Texas Motor Speedway always does it right. We're always impressed by the way things are done here and that keeps us coming back."
The inaugural 50/50 Raffle benefitting Speedway Children's Charities-Texas Chapter raised $96,174 during the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 weekend.
"We couldn't be happier with the money that was raised by our amazing fans during the April race weekend," said Marissa Chaney, executive director of the SCC-Texas Chapter. "To bring in close to $50,000 for the charity and also put some smiles on the faces of a long-time speedway family like the Terrells definitely makes this a win-win for everyone here today."
John Terrell bought the raffle tickets on a whim, thinking that his $100 was simply a donation to the Speedway Children's Charities - and he was "perfectly fine with that." But when Carol double, triple- and quadruple-checked their numbers against the winning number on April 9 - the day after the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race - she quickly showed her husband.
"(John) was flabbergasted for three days," said Carol, noting they plan on putting the money toward some of their investments and into their retirement. "I initially thought we missed winning by one number. But then I noticed that the even numbers were on the left-hand side of the ticket sheet. That's when I realized we had won."
The 50/50 Raffle benefitting Speedway Children's Charities-Texas Chapter will return for the upcoming tripleheader weekend featuring the Verizon IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the Stadium SUPER Trucks. Tickets will be sold on-site June 7-9 with the winner to be selected during "America's Original Nighttime IndyCar Race," the DXC Technology 600 on Saturday, June 9.
Stationary and mobile sellers will be roaming the speedway property throughout the weekend. Once again, 50 percent of the proceeds from the raffle will benefit the SCC-Texas Chapter, which has helped distribute more than $10 million in funding to children's nonprofit organizations throughout North Texas.