My name is Kelly Young and I work at 4 Wheel Drive Hardware in Columbiana, OH. I have worked here for 11 years. I started out in sales, then customer service, and now I manage the website.
I have always been into motorsports. My family is big into quads and dirt bikes so it just fit when I was hired here, even though I had never owned a Jeep. Less than a year after working here, I traded in my S-10 for a 1997 TJ with only 9,000 miles on it! When I first got it, I had no intention of lifting it or even thinking of taking it off road. Boy did my mind change on that!
Less than 6 months after I bought it, I was approached to test out a new 4WD brand 3" lift kit and 33" tires. Of course I wasn't going to turn this down. When the build was done, I had a 3" lift kit, 33" BFG All Terrain tires mounted on Eagle Alloy 15x8 wheels, and Bestop fender flares and side steps. At the time, it looked cool to me and I was a daily driver, so I wasn't worried about function. That didn't last long.
I was invited to go 4-wheeling at a local spot and I was hooked. It was time to rebuild it for function. I swapped my bumpers for a set of Warn Winches rock crawler bumpers and rock sliders, 33" BFG Mud Terrains on a set of black wheels, and a Warn M8000 winch
The modifications didn't stop there. After a few years of running the short arm lift kit, long arm kits were hitting the market and becoming popular. So I took off the 3" kit and decided to go even bigger and badder. We installed a 6" Fabtech long arm suspension system and I jumped up to 36" Super Swamper TSL radials. While I was at it, I decided to swap out the stock 35 rear axle and install a Ford 8.8 with a Detroit locker in it. That's when I started beating the crap out of this thing. I had dented my fenders and corners, and had scratches galore. I wheeled this thing as much and as often as I could, wherever I could.
In the fall of 2004, I received tickets to a rock crawling competition from one of our vendors. I was watching the competitors and thinking that I could do this too. I came back to 4WD and pitched the idea to them to sponsor me and they were on board.
Now the real work had to begin. I made a list of parts I thought I would need on the Jeep to make it a competition vehicle. First, we changed the paint color from dark blue to 1974 Volkswagen Rally Green. We also changed the lift kit to a 4" Full Traction long arm kit and went down a tire size to run 35" tires. We installed front and rear lockers, had a custom roll cage built, custom dash and interior, etc. It was a complete Jeep makeover. The funny thing about all of this is that the Jeep was still owned by the bank and I was making payments on it!
We have been competing in rock crawling competitions since 2005. We are entering our 6th season of competition. In June of 2008, I lost my mother to a brief battle with colon and liver cancer. My mom was one of my biggest fans and a big fan of the world of rock crawling and motorsports. I had been thinking of ways to hold an off-road event or something in my mom's memory when the idea was presented to me to paint my competition Jeep pink and raise money for cancer research. And thus, Crawl to Cure Cancer was born.
In June of 2008, Rock Crawling Team 311 driver Kelly Young lost her mother, Marie, to a brief battle with colon and liver cancer. Marie was Team 311's biggest fan, and a huge fan of rock crawling and motorsports. Since her passing, the team has been looking for ways to show Marie's appreciation for all that she did while she was with us. An idea was presented that would allow us to remember Marie, and help others with their illness.
Team 311 has changed our Jeep color theme to pink and black, and donating all of the money we raise to the American Cancer Society. We are doing this with the hope that we can play a part in helping to find a cure for something that has affected all of our lives. It is with this hope that "Crawl to Cure Cancer" was born.
We have t-shirts available to spread the word on our cause. The t-shirts and hoodies are available through 4Wheel Drive Hardware and all proceeds from the shirt sales are going to our cause, with 4WDH matching what we bring in at the end of the year. Check them out on 4wd.com!
On March 3, employees from 4Wheel Drive Hardware, along with friends and family, braved the elements and jumped into a freezing lake for a good cause. This was the third annual American Cancer Society Brr for the Cure Polar Bear Plunge.
Read 4WD Members Turn Blue
Rock Crawler and 4Wheel Drive Hardware employee Kelly Young lost her mother, Marie, to a brief battle with colon and liver cancer in 2008. Since then, Kelly has looked for ways to raise funds and generate awareness to fight cancer of all types.
Read In Memory of Her Mother
July 23 and 24 marked our third W.E.ROCK rock crawling competition. This event was held at the Badlands Off Road Park in Attica, Ind. The Crawl To Cure Cancer Team hasn’t been back to the Badlands since our rookie season, so we were ready to tear it up there.
Read Crawl To Cure Cancer Team Takes Fourth at Badlands
Our second W.E.ROCK rock crawling competition was June 24 and 25. This event was held at Hannibal Rocks Off-Road Park in Hannibal, Missouri. This was our second night event, running Friday and Saturday night. Hannibal is a tough place to compete, so I knew we were in for a rough weekend.
Read Young Has Rough Weekend at W.E.ROCK in Hannibal
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