Local Teacher Helps Make Race Car Driver’s Dreams Come True

Hayden Swank is a 16-year-old race car driver who has just been selected for the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and will race for Rev Racing this summer in Atlanta and Charlotte. A local Dallas resident and Paulding County HS Autoshop Teacher, Leroy Goodwin, has been Hayden’s crew chief for the last 9 years.
Hayden’s father Bob worked with Leroy's daughter and mentioned that his 7-year-old son wanted to drive race cars. She told him that her Dad loved racing and had been involved in racing his whole life. His father, Wimpy Goodwin raced on the Winston Cup circuit.
After Hayden wrecked the car on his first day of practice Bob asked if Leroy could look at the car and he agreed. Leroy fixed the car and has been with Hayden ever since. Leroy & Hayden have raced 100s of races together since then. They started in quarter midgets, moved to Bandoleros and have now begun racing Legends.
Leroy runs the Autoshop program at Paulding County HS and does a great job of helping his kids get ASC certified and helping them get jobs during and after high school. He takes them to auto mechanic competitions and to NASCAR races. We can’t wait to see the exciting things happening for Hayden and his crew chief Leroy who has been there every step of the way! Congratulations guys!