2026 Racing Season On Hold Due to a Leg Injury which Required Surgery!

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Well, go figure, hitting the wall at 140 MPH in Seattle nearly two decades ago has nothing on falling 4 feet while mowing the lawn on a nice spring day. That's what team driver and owner Rich Bailey learned when he came into contact with a rose bush barely a foot high, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards, breaking a ferma located in his leg near his hip joint. After feeling better and improving after the accident, Bailey started going the other way but dismissed the pain as siatica until the pain and ability to walk became just too much during the weekend of a comic con display. This resulted in an unplanned visit to the ER with the help of Capitol Racing teammate Tony Lones.

Originally told by doctors he needed a total hip replacement, it looked like Bailey would be out for the entire season, but after a cat scan, Bailey's prognosis improved as the hip no longer had to be replaced and the leg was pinned during surgery instead. Bailey will return to the driver seat as soon as he feels he can get in and out of the dragster without any problems physically. "Getting out of the race car now can be a challenge with all of the gear on so I was working out daily to make it eaisier increasing both my upper and lower body strength" Bailey said.

Unfortunately, the injury may have eliminated some of the performance gains made at the gym. Bailey had been working out regularly during the off season and will now have to start from scratch as soon as he is able. Always one of the older late night regulars at the gym, Bailey kept his age in the rearview mirrior when working out. "I always tried to be ageless and not an old white-head at the gym, but I have a new-found respect for older people who are faced with the painful task of coming back from an injury either in sports or every day life. I never realized its harder to come back from an injury as we get older but in reality it can be checkmate after taking a fall. It can effect your health in many ways and not just the initial injury. You need determination to overcome it. I always amazed my wife with frequent trips to the gym no mater how I felt and right now I can barely walk. Even though I have battled arthritis for 30 years, it never got me down. Working out was my daily escape, so this is difficult for me but I'm up for the challenge" Bailey said.

As for the car itself, it's ready to start since much of the pre-season work was completed before the injury occured. Bailey has set a goal of the second or third week in May when Garry Fauble is available to re-join the team. This will also give Bailey some extended time to heal. At that time Bailey won't be much more than a spectator when the crew does the usual trial and error procedures and timing to get the car running along with some fine tuning. Bailey would like to thank his wife Susan and Tony Lones help in his recovery.

Capitol Rocketeer Dragster Displayed at Mid Valley Comic Con in Salem

This past weekend we brought back the retro Rocketeer version of our Capitol Auto Gtoup Dragster to the annual Comic Con event at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. We have always wanted to do one of these events with the Rocketeer and we finally had the chance. Tony Lones did an excellent job taking care of everything while Rich Bailey was dealing an unpredicted surgery on Sunday.