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My #4680 Toyota Pickup KOH Experience

50K views 261 replies 178 participants last post by  gostr8 
#1 · (Edited)
This might be a little long but I think its worth sharing with you guys. Im Cody Addington the driver of #4680 toyota pickup at KOH this year. I have been a spectator at KOH for the three previous years. This whole experience started for me one day while i was laying in bed watching the 2010 KOH video. I had remembered hearing that Dave had opened the field to a stock and modified class. I proceeded to get online and see what i needed to do to enter. I knew my truck would fit in the stock class so I read the rules and found out that it would. I asked my girlfriend hat she thought and she said go for it. I got online and paid the initial $200 to save my spot and get me into the EMC stock class.

From there I had to figure out how to actually make everything happen. I had about four months of night and weekends to make my truck pass tech and try to withstand this brutal race. I started by purchasing all the safety items and slowly started installing them, fuel cell, seats, harnesses, shutoffs master kill ect. I also had to redo my front end from jumping it at a local rock race. The process was slow but I made steady progress virtually ever night. I did 90% of the work at home after my day job as a contractor. I am by no means a fabricator or skilled metal worker but I was able to make things work. I worked up until the day I left for KOH Thursday February 2nd. The truck was prepped and ready for the EMC race when we arrived at the lakebed. In between the time I registered for EMC and arriving at the lakebed I had another brilliant idea over some beers with friends. I decided to register for LCQ as well. I figured since my truck will pass tech and be there already why not. My cousin threw some money down and we signed up that night. Little did I know then we would actually be in the main race in my beat ass trail rig.

We arrived late thursday and pre ran about 60 miles with my co driver Justin Foxworthy friday and saturday. We had virtually no issues except minor stuff. We prepped the truck and were ready to race EMC. We started and had fuel/ignition issues early on. My co driver ran back to camp for parts and we fixed the truck and after about two hours we were running again. The problem came and went but we still made an 8th place finish in class and 17 overall.

After the EMC race we set up the truck for LCQ by installing larger 39.5'' Iroks and bump stops in the rear. We ran LCQ thursday and the same fuel issue showed its ugly head again. We smoked the rocks like we should have then the truck died on the back side. I jumped out and messed with the carbureteor and pulled off the air cleaner and it ran again. We made a poor time of 12:54 but were able to finish. We knew there would be no way to get in the big race with that time so I cut off the window nets and took my girfriend crawling on wednesday. Then Dave threw it out there that all LCQ entries were in. I knew this was a chance of a lifetime and jumped on it. I began trying to pool money for the entry and IRC fee. A few companies and friends stepped up and pitched in about half the money needed. We never thought we would be in that race and were not prepared at all. We didnt even have a spare tire for the 39.5's and eneded up borrowing a friends 38" bogger. We re prepped the truck and were ready to race on friday.

We started 130th off the line and our goal was to finish. We knew a finish in this was as good as a win. The day was fairly uneventful as we just slowly made our way through the desert and rocks. We lost all power steering at mile 40 and had to man handle it for over 120 miles. Each time we came to pit or a main spectator are we had grown quite the following and the cheering was awesome to hear. We just cruised and did great in the rocks and went as fast as we could in the desert. We only had to winch three times and were happy about that. We also had to help a few teams along the way and everyone had the same joke and asked if we had our camping gear in the back. We steadily made forward progress and worked our way towards the finish. We knew it was close to ten and decided no matter what we were going to complete the entire course. We got to the top of Resolutin and it was 10:11 and realized we would not complete the race in time. We ran it and back door again and competed the course at about 10:35. We had our team and quite the following waiting at the finish line.

When we crossed the finsih line even though we were over time it was an amazing feeling. We had accomplished a dream for both of us. The little toyota pickup made it with no other issued besides the power steering not working. It just overheated due to no cooler and the reservoir was to close to the exhaust maifold. Dave was waiting at the finish line and couldnt believe his eyes. He said something to the effect of you guys are f-ing crazy and if you can finish in that I wonder what you guys can do in something else. We endured a race that seemed almost impossible. This was an experience of a lifetime. Our efforts were rewarded with a merit spot into KOH 2013. The race was completed with no gps, radio communications or parker pumpers. A map was our only sourse of navagation.

I would like to thank my friends and family for all there help. My girlfriend for dealing with me being in the shop all the time. My co driver Justin. I definitely couldnt have done it without him. He is smart and kept me cool and on course the entire race.My mom for paying some entry money. My pit crew of friends Dusti, Nicky, Matt, Jason, Greg, Max, Prescot, Brian, Blake, Dino, Kevin, Jimmy, Lisa, Kristen Brandon, Trish and everyone else that helped. Partsmike.com for great deals and entry money, 4x4 Inovations, Predator Offroad, Trail Gear. Fox for tuning our shocks and making the truck do much better in the desert. Corbeau for making a nice seat. After 14 hours of racing my back felt great. My arms hurt but my back felt great. I cannot wait to see what next year will bring.

People keep asking about truck specs so here it goes. Its a beat 1980 toyota pickup with god knows how many miles. Its a carbeureted 22r block and 20r head. Stock rear axle with a detroit and 5:29 gear. Rock assault front with 6 shooter knuckles, trunion eliminator, ARB, bobby long axles and hub gears. It has 44044 front spings and chevy rears and fox remote reservoir shock. Weld on beadlocks and 39.5'' Iroks.

Thanks again Dave for letting us in and competing at a level I could only dream of before. Your the man!

Check out this article on pickuptrucks.com! http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/03/the-king-of-the-hammers-unsung-pickup.html

Add A.D.D Racing on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn

You can email if you have any questions addington_cody@yahoo.com

Cody Addington
#4680 A.D.D Racing
 
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#81 ·
Too cool!! In my book finishing is finishing...doesn't matter if it's within the time limit or not. The fact that you held that sum bitch together and muscled that truck through the most bad ass race around makes you a winner!! Plus the fact that you were gettin' it in your trail truck made it even better. Takes some talent and dedication to pull off what you did! :smokin: Congrats guys!!
 
#82 ·
Chicomecha we actually went off course because our fancy stock headlights were dim and we missed the last turn off the lake bed. We bounced our way around the desert and made our way back in course. That was the only wrong turn of the race! Our GPS aka a map was also hard to read in the dark.
 
#83 · (Edited)
Dude that was funny, I was tracking you and texting Dusti with updates on your position and said well he is almost to back door... no wait he is off course... OK he turned around is heading back on track :D good stuff and even on on the computer screen at 10pm at night my blood was pumping, oh and those dims lights are :smokin:
 
#84 ·
This is by far the coolest story of KOH. I was watching the live feed at work and saw you guys roll up CT. I went and grabbed some of my co-workers and started texting my buddies! "Dude, a 1st gen leaf sprung Yota is running the main race!!"

So bad ass bro!! Do it again next year.
 
#89 ·
Got to admit it, when I heard you start sputtering as you were climbing CT I thought you were out of it.. but seconds later you were up and off.

It does not surprise me a Toyota in your build state finished.. What was "Surprising" that you and your buddies had the balls to run the main when the opportunity arose.

WAY TO GO!​
 
#95 ·
Cody & Justin! You guys are awesome. Going back and forth with you guys in the EMC made our race, then to find out at the end that you only had a map and were entering in LCQ was spectacular! Congrats and look forward to racing next year and seeing you on the Con!

Austin #4621
 
#99 · (Edited)
too fawking cool :smokin:

i cannot congratulate you guys enough on the finish. like many people have already said, you really do give us "regular Joes" inspiration to do something we never really thought we could... great job out there at KOH, i look forward to seeing you guys race in the future
 
#105 ·
Cody and the entire 4680 team...

Like I said at the finish line, congrats on making every mile of the 2012 KOH. I am honestly proud that I got to wave the checkered flag for you and am so glad that Dave bought off on my wild idea to give you a merit spot in next years race. Personally I can't wait to see what you bring to the lakebed and maybe next time you'll be able to finish before time expires.
 
#106 ·
Kevin I know it's all still pretty hard to believe.

James thanks for helping out. When we passed you the second time we were going on our 14th hour. I was beat!!

Chris I couldn't be more thankful and am happy that I got to be a part of the race. It was awesome to complete something no one thought would be possible. I had a smile on my fact the whole race and still do. I have this odd feeling that emc is going to have a lot more competitors next year! Thanks again!!
 
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