Vehicles of all shapes and sizes breeze through Fort Stockton on a daily basis. From self-driving Teslas pulling in for a charge, to spray-painted taxi cabs passing through from Houston’s annual art car parade.

This year’s Vegas to Reno race brought in racer Josh Shelton to Fort Stockton, who pulled into the Flying J Travel Center last Monday hauling a deckedout UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle).

“This is a 6100 SPEC Trophy truck,” Shelton said, eyeing his off-road racer. “We just got done racing this truck in the Vegas to Reno with Best In The Desert. We didn’t place this year. We got taken out of the race around mile 151.”

Pointing towards the giant tires, he revealed that he was pushed off course in the 500-mile battle to be crowned winner.

“Getting pushed off track by another truck caused us to bend a wheel,” Shelton recalled. “We had some hydraulic jacks and stuff like that. But it took us like two hours to get the truck back on the course. After we finally got it going, we decided to go ahead and call it a day.”

Shelton picked up racing UTVs back in 2017. He purchased the 6100 SPEC Tro phy truck back in March, after three seasons of racing a Can-Am X3.

“I’m headed back home to Spicewood, Texas,” he said. “This is our usual stop on our way home. We stop at this Flying J every trip. We come here for food, fuel, restrooms — you name it. We really like this one. Typically, on the way home we crash at the Hampton Inn and then on the way out to the Vegas area we always stop here to get fuel. Fort Stockton is about four or five hours from home. It’s a good place for us to get out, stretch our legs, move around a little bit and then keep going.”