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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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#192 ·
You guys got a lot of heart to race KOH in a Toyota Truck. I was thinking about changing my sig if you guys finished in time........:flipoff2:


Good job driving that truck home and with smiles on the faces the entire way. :beer:
 
#200 ·
We are just running stock toyota dual case setup. It has always worked good. In some of the really technical crawling sections it would be nice a little lower. We did bottom out but not a lot.The truck was much better in the deset after fox tuned the shocks. We werent even running any bumpstops in the front and just a simple rubber type in the rear.
 
#210 ·
Thanks it was an awesome experience! That's funny you say that about a sponsor.

We are proud to announce Trail-Gear through our vendor Partsmike.com as our newest sponsor. Look for a new build thread in the Toyota forum soon!






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#215 ·
I still think that what you did is and was one of the best things that had happen to KOH, lets hope some other people remember that on the following years.

Let's see what you bring for us next year!!!

And I'm saying us, because all if us had a great time following the "little toyota that could"!!!
:flipoff2:
 
#221 ·
Thanks Jason we are stoked! We ran round one of Nor Cal Rock Racing yesterday. It was a great event and the truck ran perfectly. We ended up with a photo 3rd place finish in sportsman class and 2nd in 4600. The course was fun with lots of fast sections and jumps. Thanks team Trail-Gear for the support. If anybody got some pictures please post them up. Cody
 
#222 ·
Hey Cody..congrats on the great finish !!

So I dont know if anybody has asked you this yet but was the KOH race your first attempt at "racing" or have you had some previous experience behind the wheel of "race vehichle"...what is your background in racing??

What made you decide to enter the "Everyman" in the beginning and how long did you spend preparing for it??
 
#223 ·
It wasn't my first attempt at racing. I did a few local rock races prior to KOH. Racing has always been a passion of mine. I raced Bmx when I was a teenager and have always been into motor sports. I am competitive by nature. I had recently got divorced prior to KOH 2012 and wanted to step out of my comfort zone and set my sites on prepping my trail rig to race the emc. I just stuck to my guns and made it happen over the next 4-5 months since my decision. This is all super fun. I enjoy racing and try my hardest to prep my truck before each race with the knowledge I have. Thanks for the interest!
 
#228 ·
Tony I've added some more Trail-Gear parts and worked on some of my steering issues. Im going to start a rebuild thread really soon to keep everyone up to date on the progress of my truck. I haven't seen any pictures but I have someone that is going to send me some soon. I will post them when I get ahold of them.

Thanks James that was definitely one of the funner times I've had behind the wheel. I can't wait until the next one...
 
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