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ELKINS — Friends say Valley Head resident Steven C. Stotts was living his life to the fullest when it came to a sudden, shocking end earlier this week due to a traffic accident in Texas.
Stotts, 54, who was employed as a hauler driver by David Gilliland Racing and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) race team of Taylor Gray, was killed Tuesday while transporting cargo to Arizona for this weekend’s ARCA Menards Series event at Phoenix Raceway.
His loved ones said Stotts loved driving his semi truck and NASCAR. Finding a job that combined his two passions made him very happy, they said.
“He was big-time into racing and the only thing he ever wanted to do was drive a truck,” Valley Head resident Lenny Pennington told The Inter-Mountain. “His dad drove a truck and it was really the only thing he was ever happy doing. Soon after high school his thing was driving and we worked for several different companies over the years and race teams as well.”
Pennington said he attended both middle school and high school with Stotts at Tygarts Valley High and over the years the two had stayed in constant contact.
“It’s been a rough couple days,” Pennington said. “He was truly a great guy who was really involved with the community. He was a junior firefighter for Valley Head when he was in high school and over the years he did all kinds of charity stuff with truckers for children.”
Even though Stotts no longer lived in Valley Head and was residing in South Carolina at the time of the accident, he always called Randolph County home, Pennington said.
“He came back home every chance he got,” Pennington said. “He always stayed in contact with everyone he knew back home and when he came in he’d go around and visit everybody. He loved West Virginia and Tygarts Valley.”
According to reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the crash happened at 4:25 a.m. on Interstate 20 in Greggs County, Texas Tuesday. Stotts was driving a 2004 Volvo Conventional Tractor, towing a 2007 Featherlite trailer, when his vehicle collided with a small box trailer towed by a 2020 Honda Passport while in the westbound outside lane.
Due to the impact, the Honda flipped onto its side into the center median and its towed trailer vaulted over the concrete barrier into the eastbound lane. The reports state that the Volvo drove into the center median, struck the concrete barrier and caught fire. Its towed trailer turned onto its side in the center median. Stotts was declared dead at the scene by officials.
“Steve was just an all-around great guy and he is going to be missed,” Pennington said. “He was one of those guys who never knew a stranger and would go above and beyond to help someone out.”
Source: https://www.theintermountain.com/news/local-news/2022/03/valley-head-truck-driver-dies-in-texas/
