Stone Cold Steve Austin Rolls His UTV At Nevada Desert Race, Walks Away Fine

Stone Cold Steve Austin's off-road racing season hit a wall this past weekend when his Kawasaki Teryx4 H2 rolled over during the Valley Off-Road Racing Association's Stomping Grounds 300 near Yerington, Nevada. The 61-year-old WWE Hall of Famer, known to wrestling fans as the Texas Rattlesnake, said afterward that he and his co-driver walked away unhurt, but the crash knocked his Broken Skull Racing team out of the race entirely.

Austin took to Instagram to explain what happened, writing that he was at fault for the rollover, according to KRON4. He said that he and co-driver Reddog were both “100%” following the crash, even as the vehicle itself took some damage. Austin's team managed to get the H2 back to the main pit by way of the back roads, KRON4 reported, an outcome that could have gone much worse in the remote desert terrain outside Yerington.

The crash occurred during the Stomping Grounds 300, a VORRA event held August 22 in Yerington, a key Nevada desert racing site, according to 411Mania. Austin races under his own Broken Skull Racing banner, piloting a supercharged Kawasaki Teryx4 H2 marked with his signature number 316, with Reddog serving as his regular co-driver, per a report from On3. Austin, a Kawasaki USA brand ambassador, has built his entire off-road operation around that partnership since taking up the sport just a few years ago.

A Breakout Season Interrupted

The rollover marks the first real setback in what had otherwise been a strong 2026 campaign for Austin. He won the Stock Mod class and finished eighth overall at VORRA's Prospector 250 in March, a nearly six-hour desert endurance race, according to statistics cited by Fightful. He followed that up in July with another Stock Mod victory at the Night Vision 250 in Fallon, Nevada, placing 13th overall out of 36 entries with a finishing time of 5:46:25 — despite striking a large boulder mid-race that damaged his front bumper and skid plate.

That means the Stomping Grounds 300 rollover was Austin's second vehicle incident of the season, though his first to end in a did-not-finish. Austin said his goal for the season was to finish every race, and he added that he plans to learn from the crash and carry that lesson into next season. Despite the setback, the article notes his team already has its sights set on VORRA's Goldrush VC-Tonopah race in October, a long-distance run from Virginia City to Tonopah that stands among the sanctioning body's signature events.

From WWE Ring to Nevada Desert

Austin's move into competitive off-roading traces back to 2023, when a local Kawasaki dealership invited him to a poker run and helped him build his first competitive UTV, a Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000, per On3. He has said in interviews that he did not even realize drivers used two-foot driving techniques until his third race. Since relocating to Gardnerville, Nevada, and establishing his Broken Skull Ranch 2.0 there — after previously running his primary ranch in Tilden, Texas — Austin has been positioned close to VORRA's northern Nevada racing circuit.

His off-road profile has grown beyond VORRA's weekend races, too. He served as Grand Marshal for the BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 in Las Vegas last year and has entered the Best In The Desert Vegas to Reno race, according to the Mint 400. VORRA itself, founded in 1975 by Ed Robinson, was built as a grassroots, family-friendly organization structured so working-class racers could compete in weekend desert and short-course events across Nevada and California, per Performance Racing Industry — making it a fitting proving ground for a driver now several years removed from the ring.

Austin still keeps one foot in WWE. He appeared at WWE World during WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas this past April, following a similar on-camera appearance at WrestleMania 41 in 2025, according to Fightful. His last official match came at WrestleMania 38 back in 2022, but between ranch life and racing, Austin has made clear that off-roading is now a full-fledged second act rather than a passing hobby.