Pastrana has shoulder surgery

Two days after racing in the fifth stop of the Global RallyCross series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Travis Pastrana did something he's been putting off for nearly 10 years: He had surgery to repair the rotator cuff and labrum in his left shoulder. Although he's tallied more than 20 knee surgeries, Pastrana had never addressed his nagging shoulder issues, knowing the recovery time — six to eight months — was more than he could take off while he was still riding dirt bikes. For years, Pastrana was able to tape it well enough to ride or drive.

"But it was getting impossible to brace," he said. "There was nothing left of the labrum. My shoulder used to pop out and go right back in. But that wasn't happening anymore. It was popping out and staying out."

Pastrana said his shoulder dislocated a few times during every RallyCross race this season, leading to many of his crashes. During a late model race in Michigan in July, his car lost power steering and his shoulder dislocated, making steering virtually impossible. At the Charlotte K&N Pro Series race, it dislocated the first time he took his left hand off the steering wheel.

"It became dangerous, and I didn't want to take any more chances with me or anyone else on the track," Pastrana said. "I would have waited, but this surgery has a four-month recovery period before I can even think about testing and taking a direct hit in certain directions," Pastrana said. "I wanted to be back in the car and solid for Daytona. The NASCAR season is my priority, so I didn't want to wait any longer. Nothing is concrete yet, and nothing is signed, but it looks really good that I'll be doing the entire Nationwide series next year," Pastrana said. "I'm excited. I need the experience. Every track I've gone to, I've been better when I've gone back. And I'm excited to work with a team that has a lot of data and knowledge. That's going to help me a lot. Then we'll see how I do." ESPN