Why Is 'Moonshiners' Star Josh Owens in a Wheelchair? It Stems From a 2023 Incident

On the Moonshiners series, the guys are used to a fast-paced, hardworking environment where you can't fall behind your competition. Yet one of the moonshiners, Josh Owens, was slowed way down in Season 13.

Josh worried fans when he spent Season 13 in a wheelchair and struggling to adjust to the challenges of his daily life after a major accident left him with multiple injuries.

Here's what happened to him, why Josh is in a wheelchair for Season 13, and how he's doing now.

Josh's love for his job is perhaps second only to his love for speed. On March 4, 2023, Josh participated in a motorcycle race at the Florida International Daytona Speedway, home of the Daytona 500. Unfortunately for Josh, that day ended up being one of the most harrowing of his life.

Going around the final turn, Josh's bike tires slid out from under him and he went down hard, careening across the track with his bike feet away as they both zoomed straight at the wall surrounding the track. Josh crashed into the retaining wall at 80 miles per hour, breaking multiple bones including his neck, back, left arm, and legs.

He also bruised several vital organs, which meant that he was lucky to be alive.

In Season 13, Episode 1, viewers saw Josh struggling with limited mobility as he dealt with life from a wheelchair. His long recovery was frustrating, but Josh said in the episode that people didn't even think he'd be alive when they first recovered him from the site of the accident.

So, all things considered, a long recovery is better than no recovery.

And through his recovery, Josh's friends were like mother hens, ensuring that he didn't push himself too hard, too early. They encouraged him to seek physical therapy, and reassured him that he needed to take time to heal before getting back into the hustle and strain of the moonshine business.

By the time Season 14 of the series rolled around, Josh was back on his feet. Between the grit and determination he had to recover through hard work, and his friends ensuring he did so at a reasonable and healthy pace, he was back and better than ever in 2024 despite all his challenges.

Not only did his friends rally to support him through the physical recovery, but they also rallied financial resources to help him grapple the enormous medical bills he was faced with following his accident.

On the Season 14 premiere of the show, Josh shared that the previous year was all about recovery for him. He added, "I've had a really hard time over the last year recovering from my accident... Last year was about getting back up on my feet. But this year, I got big plans."