A PASSION FOR SPEED

By ALLEN LESSELS
New Hampshire Union Leader Sports
Sunday, Jul. 1, 2007

LOUDON – The engine in the car next door at the New Hampshire International Speedway garage roars -- absolutely screams and roars -- and Ryan Sheehan sticks his fingers in his ears to muffle at least a little of the sound.

Finally, the engine shuts down and Jason Keller, the driver of the No. 11 car in NASCAR's Nationwide Series, speaks again and calls Ryan over to show him a computer that is tracking the action outside on the track.

Ryan moves in closer and is all ears.

Ryan Sheehan, 12 and an avid fan, has come miles and miles since he first came to the race track with his father, Scott, when he was 4.

Ryan, who has autism, did not speak back then.

Auto racing and NASCAR have helped him along.

"He's what is called high-functioning autistic," said Scott. "He will not initiate a conversation with you. But he will say what he needs. If he's hungry, if he needs to go to the bathroom, if he wants to get out of there. His main disorder is socialization. He tends to be in his own world. This NASCAR thing brings him out of that."

Ryan smiles around the NASCAR folks. Remembers them from visit to visit and counts down the days to the race.

Autistic kids tend to be fidgety. Their focus strays. Or they fixate and get stuck on one subject, one task.

NASCAR is one of Ryan's passions.

He just finished his first year of middle school, at Parkside on Manchester's West Side, and had a very good year. His final book report for language arts revolved around NASCAR. He designed a cereal box with a NASCAR theme and included the history of the sport.

Bill France Jr., the former longtime president of NASCAR, died shortly after the book report was due. Becky Sheehan, Ryan's mother, showed him reports of France's death; those are now in Ryan's room.

So this is a story about an autistic boy and how NASCAR helps him out of his shell some. About how he came to the races in his younger days and, set off by one thing or another -- another kid having a toy he didn't have, a change in the schedule -- several times had to be carried what seemed miles back to the car.

"The whole time kicking and screaming," Scott said.

"It was pretty disastrous," Becky said.

This is a story about family, too. About a family's perseverance and a couple of parents and a couple of sisters -- Reilly is 14, Emma 10 -- who will do anything for a son and a brother. About a mother who doesn't work outside the family because her son expects her to be there and needs her to be there and must be available if school calls.

"His sisters are his two best friends. And protectors," said Scott, a pre-press manager at the New Hampshire Union Leader. "Anybody picks on him, they're both in their faces."

It's a story, even, about NASCAR's family and guys like driver Jason Keller and Brent Weaver of Keller's No. 11 CJM team, who helped set up the Sheehans' weekend at the track. And it's about many others at NHIS and in NASCAR who are always doing things for others and who help the Sheehans with parking -- people about whom Scott raves.

Because this story might have ended the first time Scott Sheehan had to carry Ryan back to the car after an hour at the races. Or maybe the second.

But this was something Ryan was into. Maybe it's the sounds. The speed. Maybe it's the cars going around and around.

"It was stimulating to him," Scott said of Ryan's initial attraction to the sport. "He liked it on TV, and we went up (to NHIS), and he liked it even more. It was baby steps to get him to stay longer and longer."

The bottom line was basic.

"We didn't give up, because he loved it," said Becky, who is a fan, too, but usually stays behind to do things with the girls, who aren't.

"It was worth it to me because of the joy he had for that hour," Scott said. "He has a lot of struggles in life and that's a time for him to smile and have a good time."

The hour at the track turned into two hours and then a few hours and eventually full days.

Racing became a part of Ryan's life.

Car numbers helped teach him his numbers. Car colors helped teach him his colors.

With NASCAR back in New Hampshire for Nextel Cup Lenox Industrial Tools 300 race week, Scott and Ryan were at NHIS most of the day Friday and largely hung out with Brent Weaver and Keller's team.

At one point, they were sitting in Keller's hauler when Dr. Jerry Punch of ESPN dropped by. At another, Keller took the shield off his helmet, signed it, and gave it to a thrilled Ryan.

The father of two young children, Keller has not had personal experience with autism, but he has a niece with cystic fibrosis and has done a charity golf tournament for that.

"As a Dad, some way or another you can relate (to special-needs children)," Keller said after showing Ryan his car. "The biggest thing I can do in that situation is just try to tell them what I know. I know NASCAR. I know this and to see a smile on their face, if I can do that, I've done my day's work."

The shield will take a spot of honor alongside the Keller hat, and the Daytona hats, and the Daytona shirt signed by Richard Petty and others -- Ryan wore the shirt on Friday and wears it every chance he gets -- and the photos taken alongside Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart and a bunch of other NASCAR drivers.

Few of those in the photos know of Ryan's autism.

"They're just being themselves," Scott said. "They're awesome. The 30 seconds they take is the world to him."

Scott and Ryan have upped the ante, having visited Daytona the last three years and made plans to go again next year.

They go to the Bud Shootout at Daytona, and they're working their way up to the Daytona 500. Making it to that race -- and the larger crowds that come with it -- is a goal, Scott said.

The idea is the same at NHIS. They have not been to a Cup race on a Sunday but plan to do that some day, too.

The road here has not always been smooth. Neither is the road ahead.

Ryan's assignments are modified for him and others in the autistic program, and school is going to start getting tougher now, Scott said.

The Sheehans will continue to take it step by step, race by race.

"We don't think abut it too much," Scott said. "If we did, we'd lie in bed at night scared to death. We've accepted the fact Ryan will be in our care probably the rest of our lives. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

"From when we were first approaching preschool, when he didn't speak, to where he is now is just phenomenal. The work from his aides and teachers has been unbelievable."

Yesterday, Scott and Ryan -- walking hand in hand -- were back at NHIS, dealing with crowds and dealing with loud noises.

Friday's experience with the roaring engine in Keller's garage turned into a positive, Scott said. They had left the headphones Ryan usually wears at the track in the hauler.

"I thought for sure he'd be running for cover, that he was out of there and we'd have to go back to the hauler," Scott said. "I think a lot of it had to do with Jason being there. Ryan was having a good time, and he didn't want to leave the situation. That was a big thing. A very big thing"

And another step forward.

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