Veteran NHRA nitro Funny Car driver Ron Capps suffered a right triceps injury this past July and battled through the remainder of the season before having surgery on Nov. 19.

Capps was quick to acknowledge his courage paled in comparison to the battle his son, Caden, 13 has been going through since this past March.

“Back in March, he was playing baseball and he got hit by a ball and he complained about soreness in his back and he kept wanting to get his back massaged,” Ron said in an exclusive interview with Competition Plus. “So, we went to the Vegas race (March 28-30) and during the Vegas race he complained about it was starting to hurt him when he slept. We thought it was growing pains at that age because he was sprouting like crazy so right after the Vegas race we came home and I had to fly out for a NAPA thing and my wife (Shelley) took him in to the doctor. As soon as they did an X-ray, they told my wife they needed to get him in for a closer X-ray and in the beginning he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma.”

CAPPS MENDS IN OFF-SEASON

Veteran NHRA nitro Funny Car driver and fan favorite Ron Capps has spent the offseason recovering from Nov. 19 surgery on his right triceps muscle. Capps drives the NAPA Dodge for Don Schumer Racing.

“I had tricep reconstruction on my right arm,” Capps said. “I injured it in July when I was training before the Denver race (July 18-20). I wasn’t sure how bad it was. Fortunately, my right arm all I had to worry about was the brake handle, but it is a pull brake handle, and the parachute levers were the main concern. I knew I hurt it, but I thought I just tore a muscle and I talked to Don (Schumacher) about it. Rahn Tobler and my whole crew put a push button on my steering wheel for my parachute which a lot of the Top Fuel teams have and some of the Funny Car guys have, so that eliminated one of my concerns of having to strain the tricep anymore, but I knew I lost some strength in it and I was worried at first my season was over. But, I went right to the next race, the Denver race, and got through the race.

The injury didn’t hinder Capps while he was driving the remainder of the season, but the damage was worse than he thought.

“We had an MRI done after the Vegas race (Oct. 30-Nov. 2), and I had torn two of three tricep muscles completely off the bone,” Capps said. “I had surgery right after Pomona (Nov. 13-16), so I could get right on it and be rehabbed before testing in January.”

Capps said his injury is the same as former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis suffered during the 2012 season. Lewis suffered a torn triceps Oct. 14 of that season and returned to action on Jan. 6 when the playoffs began and he helped lead the Ravens through the postseason, concluding with a win over the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII.

“I’m on schedule with rehab and everything,” Capps said. “I have a huge brace on my arm right now and I get it off next week. We’re actually shooting the NAPA commercials while we start our testing out in West Palm Beach (Fla.) I think we are going to get down there Jan. 14, and I will be back in the car at that time. The way they do these surgeries nowadays, it (the right tricep) will be stronger than my left one. I’ve prided myself in being in pretty good shape over the years and I’m in the best shape I’ve been in and I get injured training, but I’ve been rehabbing and I will be ready to go.”

Several NHRA nitro Funny Car and Top Fuel teams will be testing at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway, culminating with the Pro Winter Warm-Up Jan. 16-17.

Although Capps will not return to the driver’s seat until mid-January, Tommy Johnson Jr., his DSR teammate, tested his NAPA Dodge at PBIR in early December.

“Tobler decided to take our NAPA car sort of last minute,” Capps said. “We changed to the six-disc (clutch) late last year actually after the Vegas test. Tobler was comfortable enough to leave it in the car for Pomona (Nov. 13-16). He didn’t have a whole lot of runs to go back and look at, but he was so excited about the way we tested. We ran 3.99, 4 flat, and 4.01 testing in Vegas, so he left it in there and at Pomona we were low 4.0s every run. He was getting more and more runs under his belt, but there were some things he wanted to work on in early December with Tommy Johnson driving it. Obviously everybody heard about our teammate Matt Hagan running the 3.95. Dickie (Venables, Hagan’s crew chief) and those guys tested the same stuff that Tobler had been working on. So, it is going to be a lot of fun to have all of our (DSR) Funny Cars running close to the same setup. Tobler was pretty pumped up about it (the early December PBIR test), and that’s why I’m looking forward to the test in January because I think we can continue on kind of where they were at during that test in December.” Veteran NHRA nitro Funny Car driver Ron Capps suffered a right triceps injury this past July and battled through the remainder of the season before having surgery on Nov. 19.

Capps was quick to acknowledge his courage paled in comparison to the battle his son, Caden, 13 has been going through since this past March.

“Back in March, he was playing baseball and he got hit by a ball and he complained about soreness in his back and he kept wanting to get his back massaged,” Ron said in an exclusive interview with Competition Plus. “So, we went to the Vegas race (March 28-30) and during the Vegas race he complained about it was starting to hurt him when he slept. We thought it was growing pains at that age because he was sprouting like crazy so right after the Vegas race we came home and I had to fly out for a NAPA thing and my wife (Shelley) took him in to the doctor. As soon as they did an X-ray, they told my wife they needed to get him in for a closer X-ray and in the beginning he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma.”

Ewing’s sarcoma is a rare bone cancer that primarily affects children and adolescents.

“That was a blind side,” Ron said. “But what ended up happening is we came down to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, and what it turned out to be was actually it was his fourth rib and they did the biopsy and the surgeon came right out after surgery and said the bad news was that he went to do the biopsy and take a piece of the rib and it sort of fell apart as he was grabbing it, but just looking at he didn’t think it was Ewing’s sarcoma, he think it is what they call LCH, which is a much better diagnosis than Ewing’s sarcoma. The oncologist did the test and it came back in a couple of weeks and it was LCH.”

Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare, proliferative disorder of dendritic cells.

According to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, while LCH is not a cancer, it typically requires treatment with chemotherapy similar to that used to treat many childhood cancers.

Approximately two to three out of every one million children will develop Langerhans cell histiocytosis every year.

The most common age to develop LCH is 2 to 3 years old; however, it can be diagnosed in children at birth and into the teenage years.

“They had a couple of procedures they wanted to try that were experimental before we went to do chemo or radiation,” Ron said. “They did an experimental procedure which is the last chance at doing something before having to do chemo and it worked, it stopped it from growing. We just kind of dealt with that every couple of months during the season and going to get bone scans at Rady Children’s Hospital and what was great was we had a scan right after Pomona (Nov. 13-16), right after my (triceps) surgery, and they scan everything to make sure that it didn’t spread into any organs or his blood and it (the LCH) hasn’t grown anymore. As of now all he has is that fourth rib missing and none of the other stuff has grown. That’s probably the best news. Now we just have to really keep our eye on it and do a scan every couple of months, but at this point he doesn’t have to do any radiation or chemo.”

Ron said Caden’s next scan is scheduled in February.

“He had that rib taken out and he just has to be a little careful with that right now,” Ron said. “Then we have to get scans done every couple of months and meet with the oncologist and just make sure nothing has spread.”

Ron and his family was especially grateful for the support they have received during the season. Ron and his wife also have a daughter, Taylor, 18.

“What was great, we only told immediate family members throughout the season, and then Don Schumacher, my crew chief (Rahn Tobler) and my crew and the head guys at NAPA were the other only ones who knew. Don is a family-type of guy who loves everybody being family-oriented with our team and when we were going through this Don have been through cancer, his wife fought cancer a few years ago and Rahn Tobler’s wife had breast cancer a handful of years ago and they were all very supportive. Everybody was so supportive who knew about it and Caden was able to come to a few races. He went to Brainerd (Aug. 14-17) and we ended up winning that race, and the guys love having Caden around. Then at the end of the season, that brought us to our knees when we found out Don had cancer. It was just great to receive all the support from people.”

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