Kids relate to this racer

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

AS the mid-morning sun blazed down on ready-or-not Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League driver Stan Wattles spent two full hours tutoring students from Las Vegas' New Horizons Academy on the nuances of Indy-car racing.

Wattles showed the students how to strap into the cockpit of the No. 30 Spirit of San Antonio/McCormack Motorsports Lola-Ford he will drive in Sunday's inaugural Las Vegas 500K. He showed them how to adjust the anti-roll bars and dial up the boost. He let them run their hands over his Nomex driving suit. He let them try on his helmet and flip down the visor.

In fact, he did everything but let them try to qualify the car.

But Wattles wasn't doing those kids a favor Wednesday. He was relating to them.

"I've come from where they are," said Wattles, 35, who overcame dyslexia and perception difficulties at age 11 with 2 1/2 years of special education at a school like New Horizons.

"I know the hands-on, visual (experience) is real important to these guys. I know it was to me."

The Long Island, N.Y., native, who now calls Sewall's Point, Fla., home, is using his Toyota Atlantic and IRL programs to help increase public awareness and understanding of learning disabilities, in conjunction with the National Center for Learning Disabilities. His blue-and-white racer will be adorned with NCLD decals Sunday.

"It's something I want to keep part of my program," said Wattles, who is trying to put together enough sponsorship to run a second IRL campaign next year. "I and many others who have overcome learning disabilities have a special gift.

"To me, going back to these kids and saying, 'You, too, can be a success in no matter what you do, you can overcome this and go on,' it makes me feel terrific."

Their educational backgrounds isn't the only thing Wattles has in common with the New Horizon kids. They've never driven a race car at speeds of 200 mph -- and neither has he.

Injuries sustained in a Phoenix practice crash prevented the rookie driver from attempting to qualify for May's Indianapolis 500 and testing at Las Vegas in June. The fabled Brickyard and the 1.5-mile LVMS tri-oval are the only tracks at which the IRL cars run in excess of 200.

At Las Vegas, it should be quite a bit faster than 200. Richie Hearn clicked off a lap at 222.359 mph in June, and Saturday's pole speed is expected to top 225 mph.

To Wattles' credit, he's approaching the weekend with proper caution.

"Basically, our plan is to go out, do a few warmup laps (on Friday) and make sure everything is working on the car properly," said Wattles, a martial arts enthusiast who attributes his quick recovery from the grinding Phoenix crash to the massage expertise of his karate master.

"If I'm happy, they're going to let me go out there for like 25 laps straight and work my way up to it."

Wattles, who finished 16th with a fuel pickup problem during last month's IRL stop at Loudon, N.H., hopes to be comfortable with the speed by Saturday's qualifying.

"I think we're going to be OK," he said. "If we're not OK, I'll park it. I'll be out of the car.

"I learned the hard way how hard these things can bite you. When you add another 40 mph on to the speed, it's a big difference."