Who Will Own Burkburnett's Hot Wheels Museum When It Opens?

"This may bring this town to life, you know, where people will come and stop and visit and see what it's all about," Theophile "Ted" Kwas told KAUZ in March 2025. "Whether they get my name on anything, I could care less. I really could. I'm not in it for the notoriety or anything like that. It's just to see my collection saved."

That collection is now inside the former Burkburnett ISD building at 200 East 3rd Street. It has been through a hailstorm, a public open house, and a leadership shakeup. As of this week, the project is on pause. The headlines are about a fired director and a branded truck. Underneath them is a question that has been part of the Wheels of Wonder plan from the beginning: who should own and control all of this once it's up and running? Both the city manager and the former director say the long-term answer is the private sector. The pause is the process of getting there.

The man behind the boxes

Kwas has lived in Burkburnett for decades. A 2004 Burkburnett Informer Star candidate profile listed him as a 44-year resident, a retired Air Force veteran with 20 years of service, and the owner of Foreign Auto in town. The museum's own history says he bought Hot Wheels from the day they came out in 1968 and never stopped. He often bought two of each model, one to keep pristine in the package and one to play with. Roughly 80% of his approximately 120,000 cars are Hot Wheels.

Travis Haggard became executive director of the Burkburnett Development Corporation in 2022 and learned about the collection that year. He told KAUZ he found "thousands of boxes full of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Johnny Lightning, all the different brands," and asked Kwas how many he had. Kwas thought it was over 100,000. From the start, the museum's timeline says, the two of them talked about the project as "a catalyst for downtown redevelopment."

That phrase is the key to everything that followed. Wheels of Wonder was set up as an economic development project, and it was financed like one.

What the public side has paid so far

Every major purchase has been made by a public body, usually at a price well below what the asset was considered worth.

KAUZ reported in August 2025 that the school district agreed to sell the building for $400,000, "just enough to break even." The money came from the city's Tax Increment Financing reinvestment zone fund. It was the first time that fund had paid for anything other than infrastructure. Haggard described the reasoning plainly at the time: investors and developers "need to stop for a purpose, a destination. And that's what this museum really brings for Burkburnett."

The fundraising goal is where the scale changes. The collection and building together cost $500,000. The campaign asks for twelve times that. KAUZ itemized part of the $6 million goal:

• $1 million for an endowment to acquire more collections and support operations
• $2 million to cover two years of operating expenses as a safety net
• $1 million for exhibits designed by nationally recognized exhibit makers

Those three items add up to $4 million of the $6 million. The report did not break down the remaining $2 million. Either way, the city has bought the raw materials cheaply, and making them into a working museum costs far more. Who raises that money, and who governs it afterward, is the question now on the table.

Why a hailstorm cost more than cardboard

The first public open house was scheduled for April 2026. Five days before it, hail and heavy rain damaged the building's skylights and let water pour inside. Water damaged the boxes and the cardboard backing that many of the cars are mounted on. Museum officials told KAUZ that packaging damage can cut a model's value by more than 80% in some cases.

That number explains Kwas's habit of buying two of each car. The pristine copy in its package holds the collector value, so a wet box costs a lot more than the cardboard itself. For a collection that a city development corporation now holds as an asset, a roof leak becomes a balance sheet problem. Haggard called it heartbreak that "really, really set us back."

The open house in June

The open house finally took place on Monday evening, June 29, 2026. Visitors saw about 10% of the collection in several themed rooms, along with a documentary on the collection's history and a station showing how to design your own Hot Wheels car. Organizers said the larger space let them show far more of the collection than they could when it was stored in a warehouse.

Mike Kwas, Ted's son, described his father stacking "boxes on top of boxes" and storing them up in a balcony area, always talking about the Guinness Book of World Records. "He finally got his dream," he said.

KFDX called it a special open house and noted that work toward full operations was still underway, with local boards working out next steps. None of the coverage we reviewed lists regular visitor hours. The pages on wheelsofwonder.org that we checked, dated earlier in 2026, still say "Coming Soon." June was a preview and did not start a regular schedule.

The pause, and the question behind it

City Manager Lindsey McNabb-Fox fired Haggard on July 10 after an internal investigation. She told KFDX he was "terminated with cause" and that personnel rules keep the findings private. Haggard has said the issue was his use of a BDC-owned truck wrapped as a Wheels of Wonder ad. He drove it to California for a meeting with Mattel about the museum. He described the truck as "a rolling billboard" and said he had checked that dual use was allowed. He also told KAUZ he wished there had been a chance to talk it through before the decision was made. KFDX also reported that several board members have resigned.

The disagreement goes deeper than one road trip. Haggard asked how the city "can put a governing policy over something they don't own," since the truck belongs to the BDC. McNabb-Fox said the city created the development corporation and governs it. The BDC's bylaws, as KAUZ summarized them, say the executive director is a city employee who reports to the city manager on personnel matters but carries out economic development programs at the direction of the BDC board. The bylaws also bar using corporation assets for outside purposes or personal benefit unless the board approves in advance.

That means a city, a development corporation, and the Texas Diecast Car Museum Board all have a role in one collection and one building. That arrangement is what the city is working to clarify:

"I think it's a little bit of a setback just because the project is on pause as we kind of reorganize. But honestly, I'm really excited for the future of the project, and we're really looking at setting up the governance documents to make sure that everybody feels comfortable with the BDC assets and ensuring that it's protected." – Lindsey McNabb-Fox, to KAUZ, October 5, 2026

Haggard is staying on as an advisory member of the Texas Diecast Car Museum Board, an arrangement McNabb-Fox called "a good resource for them." Despite their disagreement over the firing, both of them describe the same end goal. McNabb-Fox told KFDX the plan is to eventually move the inventory and the downtown building into the private sector. Haggard said the goal was always to "get it back into the hands of the private sector."

What to watch on East 3rd Street

McNabb-Fox has been interim BDC executive director since July. She told KFDX on October 2 that the museum is about a year from opening, depending on fundraising and on reaching an agreement among the boards involved. The city is searching for a permanent BDC director.

Over the next several months, a few public milestones will show whether that timeline holds:

1. A new BDC executive director. The position is open, and Haggard says the board named a relationship with Mattel and Hot Wheels its highest priority when the project began about three years ago.
2. Governance documents. Expect agreements among the city, the BDC, and the museum board covering the collection, the building, and other BDC assets.
3. Fundraising progress toward the $6 million goal. Donations go through wheelsofwonder.org.
4. A private-sector plan. This is the step that would finish what the TIF purchase started.

KAUZ reported that the collection is the start of what organizers hope will become the largest die-cast car museum in the world. For now, McNabb-Fox says the project is still moving toward opening in Burkburnett, with a working estimate of about a year out.

Downtown projects like this one shape how Burkburnett grows, and we keep an eye on them for the people who live here. If you'd like to talk about what changes on East 3rd Street could mean for your own plans, the team at McCown Real Estate LLC is glad to help. Work With Us.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.