CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The co-driver of Mooresville-based David Gilliland Racing’s No. 17 NASCAR ARCA team hauler died in a fiery wreck in Texas Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The 54-year-old driver, Steven Stotts of Valley Head, W.Va., was pronounced dead at the scene, the Longview (Texas) News-Journal reported, citing a Texas Department of Public Safety statement.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm the passing of Steven Stotts,” team officials said on Twitter. “Our deepest sympathies go out to Steven’s family and friends.”
Stotts hit an SUV from behind on Interstate 20 West just before 4:30 a.m., a half-mile west of Longview, DPS spokeswoman Sgt. Jean Dark said in the statement.
The David Gilliland Racing hauler then hit a concrete barrier in the center median and caught fire, the newspaper reported.
Three others in the wreck were hospitalized in stable condition, according to the DPS statement — a 63-year-old Alabama woman driving the SUV, and two passengers in the hauler, 38-year-old John Zaverl and 45-year-old Michael Mizzelle of North Carolina.
Concern for the survivors
On Twitter, David Gilliland Racing officials said Stotts was a co-driver of the No. 17 ARCA series team transporter.
Stotts and his passengers were headed to Arizona for Friday night’s Menard Series ARCA event at Phoenix Raceway. Longview is about 130 miles east of Dallas.
Zaverl and Mizzelle were released from the hospital, the team said on Twitter later Tuesday. “Our continued thoughts are with the driver of the second vehicle involved in the accident,” team officials posted.
The ARCA team’s driver is 16-year-old Taylor Gray.
“DGR and driver Taylor Gray’s participation in Friday’s event will be determined at a later time,” team officials said in the statement.
In April 2021, Gray underwent surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem after a single-car wreck in Statesville, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.
Gray, who made a full recovery, broke his L4 vertebra, a part of the spine in the lower back, the Observer reported.
