Truly One of Us

From humble beginnings punishing Ram trucks while working at the local hardware store, Cody Espinoza’s journey from Dodge enthusiast to Dodge Badassador is one heck of a story!

The best automotive origin stories don’t always start in showrooms or at racetracks. Sometimes, they begin on gravel back roads, sliding around with your friends. These are the places where vehicles earn a place in our hearts through torture, not trophies. For Cody Espinoza, that place was Sebastopol, Mississippi. Just 300 people. One hardware store. The town set the tone for a life full of Dodge-based awesomeness.

“It’s one of those towns where you’ve got your little auto shop, your hardware store, your grocery store,” Cody explains. “Just the necessities you need.”

For a kid growing up in Sebastopol in the late ’90s and early 2000s, that hardware store became something more than a place to buy lumber and nails. During those years, it became a proving ground for the Dodge brand.

Cody’s best friend’s family owned the local hardware store, and like most small-town operations, the fleet was pure function over form. Every work truck wore a Ram badge. Every delivery, every service call, every haul was completed in a Dodge.

“As kids, you know, we worked at the hardware store,” Cody recalls with a laugh. “Or if you want to call it work. We were there, probably making it more work for the owner than we were actually getting done. We tore up a lot of stuff.”

But the owner let them figure things out. Driving trucks. Operating tractors. It was hands-on education. You don’t see that much anymore, especially for kids who weren’t even old enough to hold a learner’s permit.

“We were driving and doing stuff way before we were supposed to,” Cody admits. “That day and age, it was a little bit different than it is now, especially in a small town community. You can get away with a lot more.”

What stuck with him wasn’t just the freedom and fun of that job. It was what those trucks could take.

“Just growing up and driving those trucks and knowing the torture that we put them through, and just to see them continue on over the years and just never stop! We wrecked a few. They would be beat up just from work and stuff, but man, the Rams never slacked up, never stopped. You never doubted that they were going to start when you turned the key.”

Ram Tough isn’t just marketing copy when you’ve lived it. For Cody, his days driving those Dodge trucks established a lifelong passion for the brand.

Later on, his brother was the first to bring a Ram truck into the family – a ’97 Ram single cab, purchased used in the early 2000s. Cody drove it whenever he could, fell in love with the body style, and filed away a mental note: when it’s my turn, it has to be a Dodge.

In 2005, he got his chance to own his own Dodge. A 2003 Dakota with the V8 Magnum. He still owns it. “Almost 300,000 miles on it, and like hard miles – very hard miles,” Cody says. “I still drive it as a work truck and use it around the house.”

For Cody, it was never about modifying or building. He wasn’t wrenching on show cars or chasing dyno numbers. His love for Dodge was rooted in something much simpler: the vehicles did what they promised, every single time he turned the key. “For me, it’s all about the driving experience,” he explains. Racecars? Not for them. Closest they came to performance was dirt-track racing. Outside that, it was ATVs, motorcycles, four-wheelers and sport bikes. As for modifying vehicles, he never really did that growing up.

Fast forward to today, Cody Espinoza serves as a Green Beret in the Army. His 2003 Dakota is still running strong with around 300,000 miles on the odometer. Sitting beside the Dakota in his driveway is an SRT^® Hellcat Durango, an SRT Demon 170 and his daily driven Durango R/T. These additions represent how his love for Dodge has grown right alongside the milestones in his own life.

He took advantage of the Radford Racing School SRT Experience that came with his SRT Hellcat Durango, and it gave him the best Dodge experience of his life. “I went to Radford when I bought my Hellcat Durango,” he says. “They give you the day course when you buy a vehicle, but I ended up taking a credit and doing the full four-day Grand Prix road racing course.” Three days in a manual SRT Hellcat. One day in a Formula Four car.

For someone who’d spent his entire life behind the wheel of a Dodge and having some tactical driving courses through military training – Radford Racing School was a revelation. “Those dudes are super cool. They don’t hold you back. They let you go. They let you learn,” Cody says. “A lot of the stuff you do naturally. Then they explain it to you. Suddenly, it makes sense. You’re doing it by instinct, and then they explain why it happens. This school just brought it all together for me.”

When Dodge announced the Badassador program, Cody threw his name in the hat. Up to then, his connection with Dodge was personal. Now, this was his chance to share it with a wider community. He wasn’t a social media influencer with millions of followers. Not a professional racer. Not a celebrity builder. He was a soldier who loved Dodge vehicles and wanted to represent the brand he’d trusted since childhood.

The selection process was rigorous. Dodge was looking for authenticity, for people who lived the brand rather than performed it. Cody’s military background, his small-town roots and his genuine connection to the vehicles aligned perfectly with who Dodge was looking for. “They did a good job selecting a group of people,” he says. “Getting a wide range of experiences and backgrounds and bringing us all together.”

Each Badassador brings something different to the table. Cody’s niche? In his own words, he is bridging the gap between the automotive world and the military community. “That’s my difference. I’m in the military,” he explains. “So I’m trying to use the opportunity with Dodge to help give back to the car world and also the military community.”

He’s making good on that promise. At the NHRA Four-Wide Carolina Nationals in Concord, he brought military charity representatives with him, giving them access to Tony Stewart and Matt Hagan. At Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in October, he did it again, using his platform to shine a light on organizations doing real work for veterans.

The story behind Cody’s charitable focus is so wild it warrants its own article. When Dodge stepped in to resolve some drama involving his custom-ordered F8 Green SRT Demon 170, the dealership eventually got the original car back and sent it to a Mecum auction. Dodge then let Cody choose where the proceeds from auctioning off the car would go.

The story of how Cody ended up with his SRT Demon 170 starts decades earlier with a different dream. Growing up, Cody’s ultimate goal was always a Viper. Not a Challenger, not a Charger … a Viper. But life had other plans. Early in his military career, he couldn’t justify the expense. Later, when he had more financial stability, he still didn’t have a garage to properly house such a machine. When Dodge announced the final year of Viper production in 2017, Cody considered it one last time, but ultimately talked himself out of it. “I wish I hadn’t,” he admits, “but at the time that was the right decision.” Then, years later, in 2023, when the SRT Demon 170 was announced, something clicked. The Viper was out of production. He finally had a house with a garage. He was financially stable. And here was Dodge’s new flagship. The most powerful production car they’d ever built. “There’s no more Viper, so the Demon is it,” Cody explains. “That’s the new hotness.” He ordered his in F8 Green, and what happened next would change everything.

He picked three military charities, each receiving around $50,000: the Special Forces Association Mississippi chapter, 5th Squad and Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors. 5th Squad started as a local Mississippi operation providing immediate-need support to service members. Paying electric bills, fixing broken heaters, whatever crisis needs solving right now. They’ve since expanded, including an annual “Ruck Up for Rugrats” event where service members fill rucksacks with toys and ruck march them to the local children’s hospital. Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors builds custom homes across the country for wounded veterans – 100% paid for, designed exactly how the veteran wants it. Land, house, architect, every detail. “They work with them to choose where they want to build it,” Cody says. “They pick the land, they pick the house, they work with an architect to design the house. Everything to the exact detail that they want.”

Cody continues to work with these organizations at every Badassador event he attends, leveraging his access to amplify their missions. It’s the perfect synthesis of his two worlds – the Dodge community and the special operations community.

For Cody, the Badassador program didn’t change who he is. It just gave him a bigger platform to be exactly who he’s always been. A soldier who grew up trusting Dodge and because those Ram trucks in Sebastopol never let anyone down.

Because Ram Tough isn’t something you perform. It’s something you prove, one hard mile at a time.

Over 37 years and hundreds of thousands of hard-fought miles, from gravel roads to major milestones, Cody Espinoza has shown what true dedication to Dodge looks like.

The Badassador program didn’t just recognize Cody – it amplified the lesson he learned long ago in Sebastopol: When something works, endures and proves itself through every test, you stick by it. That’s Ram Tough, and that’s Cody Espinoza.