Life-Threatening Health Issues Not Stopping Bobby Labonte

• Bobby Labonte’s encounter with kidney cancer was well documented last year.

• Two years earlier, the 58-year-old Labonte suffered a ruptured appendix that hospitalized him for five days.

• Today, Labonte must occasionally visit a lung specialist because he’s still not 100%.

During Bobby Labonte’s 25-year NASCAR Cup career, the series champion broke his shoulder blade twice and still raced, but in a recent three-year period the Texas native faced two life-threatening health situations.

The 58-year-old Labonte’s encounter with kidney cancer was well documented last year, but two years earlier Labonte suffered a ruptured appendix that hospitalized him for five days.

“I ended up with a collapsed lung, pleurisy,” Labonte said. “The doctor told me that 10 more hours and I wouldn’t have made it because everything inside of me had exploded so badly. I was on steroids for four months.”

Today, Labonte must occasionally visit a lung specialist because he’s still not 100%.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame member’s health issues began in 2019 when a MRI showed a spot on one of his kidneys. The next year Labonte and his wife Kristin traveled to Indianapolis for a Ferrari Challenge Series event, which was a client of their marketing company Breaking Limits. On that event’s final day in July 2020, Labonte didn’t feel well, and Kristin drove their motor coach to their High Point, N.C., home. Upon their arrival, Bobby went immediately to a local hospital’s emergency room. He was diagnosed with a ruptured appendix and rushed into surgery.

Meanwhile, the spot on his kidney was under constant monitoring by a High Point doctor. It remained fairly static until at the end of one sixth-month period it showed extensive growth. That’s when doctors decided in 2021 that surgery was necessary.