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Chuck Worsham, founder of Worsham Racing and father of Funny Car star Del Worsham, underwent successful surgery on his left shoulder Wednesday, during an out-patient procedure in Southern California. Both of Worsham's shoulders have been causing him major discomfort for some time, and the right shoulder will also need work at some point in the future, but he chose to have the left shoulder operated on first. Doctors repaired a major tear in Worsham's left rotator cuff and also removed a bone spur during the arthroscopic procedure.
An avid left-handed bowler, Worsham spent Tuesday night rolling as many games as he could at the team's in-house alley, knowing it will most likely be a long time before he can bowl again. His son Del, CSK blue team driver Jeff Arend, and other friends joined him for what turned out to be a late-night bowling marathon.
"Hey, it was my last hurrah for a while, and it wasn't like I could tear it up any worse than it was, so we had fun until we were all too tired to bowl anymore," the elder Worsham said, prior to his operation.
"The chronic pain has been an issue for a long time, not just on the alley but just in life, so we looked at the race schedule and decided this particular time was the best time to do this. We only have two races left, and then the off-season, so I should be well on my way to being back in good shape by the beginning of next season."
One of Worsham Racing's crew chiefs, Chris Cunningham, had similar surgery two years ago, and has been giving advice to the boss.
"I told him not to worry about rushing his recovery, because it's almost impossible to do that," Cunningham said. "For the first week or two, your arm is pretty immobile and you're just in recovery mode. After that, they'll put him on a rehab program that starts very slowly and moves you forward in small steps. You don't know how critical your shoulder is, for just about anything you do, until you go through one of these. Within a matter of a couple of months, though, you can really start seeing progress and you come back stronger than ever. I'm glad I had mine worked on, but it is a tough recovery at the beginning."
Worsham plans to attend both of the remaining races left on the 2007schedule, though he will be limited as to what he'll be able to do on the race car.
"With my shoulders hurting so bad this year, and knowing the surgery was coming up, we already shifted some of the things we do on the car so that the crew would be ready for it after I went under the knife," Worsham said. "For instance, until this year I had strapped Del into the car for every lap he ever made, but we made the change to having one of the crew guys do that. I'll still be there as eyes and ears, and I'll continue to oversee the operation, but I'm not going to be tearing motors apart or laying new carbon fiber for a while."
Del Worsham reported in after helping his father return to his Orange, Calif. home.
"He's doing well, and the doctors said everything went fine," the younger Worsham said. "He bought a special recliner for his recover, and he's already propped up in it. The nurse told me he was 'a little feisty, but he did well and came out of it just fine'. Knowing my dad, if all she called him was 'feisty', he must have been on his best behavior. I'm sure he'll be at the races in Las Vegas and Pomona, so nothing will change as far as how we run the car, and we'll all do all we can to help him through the recover."
Chuck Worsham Has Successful Shoulder Surgery
Chuck Worsham, founder of Worsham Racing and father of Funny Car star Del Worsham, underwent successful surgery on his left shoulder Wednesday, during an out-patient procedure in Southern California. Both of Worsham's shoulders have been causing him major discomfort for some time, and the right shoulder will also need work at some point in the future, but he chose to have the left shoulder operated on first. Doctors repaired a major tear in Worsham's left rotator cuff and also removed a bone spur during the arthroscopic procedure.
An avid left-handed bowler, Worsham spent Tuesday night rolling as many games as he could at the team's in-house alley, knowing it will most likely be a long time before he can bowl again. His son Del, CSK blue team driver Jeff Arend, and other friends joined him for what turned out to be a late-night bowling marathon.
"Hey, it was my last hurrah for a while, and it wasn't like I could tear it up any worse than it was, so we had fun until we were all too tired to bowl anymore," the elder Worsham said, prior to his operation.
"The chronic pain has been an issue for a long time, not just on the alley but just in life, so we looked at the race schedule and decided this particular time was the best time to do this. We only have two races left, and then the off-season, so I should be well on my way to being back in good shape by the beginning of next season."
One of Worsham Racing's crew chiefs, Chris Cunningham, had similar surgery two years ago, and has been giving advice to the boss.
"I told him not to worry about rushing his recovery, because it's almost impossible to do that," Cunningham said. "For the first week or two, your arm is pretty immobile and you're just in recovery mode. After that, they'll put him on a rehab program that starts very slowly and moves you forward in small steps. You don't know how critical your shoulder is, for just about anything you do, until you go through one of these. Within a matter of a couple of months, though, you can really start seeing progress and you come back stronger than ever. I'm glad I had mine worked on, but it is a tough recovery at the beginning."
Worsham plans to attend both of the remaining races left on the 2007schedule, though he will be limited as to what he'll be able to do on the race car.
"With my shoulders hurting so bad this year, and knowing the surgery was coming up, we already shifted some of the things we do on the car so that the crew would be ready for it after I went under the knife," Worsham said. "For instance, until this year I had strapped Del into the car for every lap he ever made, but we made the change to having one of the crew guys do that. I'll still be there as eyes and ears, and I'll continue to oversee the operation, but I'm not going to be tearing motors apart or laying new carbon fiber for a while."
Del Worsham reported in after helping his father return to his Orange, Calif. home.
"He's doing well, and the doctors said everything went fine," the younger Worsham said. "He bought a special recliner for his recover, and he's already propped up in it. The nurse told me he was 'a little feisty, but he did well and came out of it just fine'. Knowing my dad, if all she called him was 'feisty', he must have been on his best behavior. I'm sure he'll be at the races in Las Vegas and Pomona, so nothing will change as far as how we run the car, and we'll all do all we can to help him through the recover."
