Oklahoma's Own: A Big Task For A Coweta Boy On A Big Mission

Craig Day, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- How can a classic truck fight a deadly disease? Ten- year-old Zak Yocham from Coweta knows.

He plans to triumph over tragedy with the help of a '72 Chevy.

He's a young man mature well beyond his years, especially in the shop and around old cars.

"He's just never really not been somewhere where there's not been a garage with cars being worked on," said Zak's mom Alisha Cherry Martin.

How many kids his age do you know that would trade video games for sand paper, and a big job on an old truck?

"We're going to repaint the whole truck and we've got to keep sanding it until it is right," Zak said.

But Zak is one determined kid. His next project will be a 1972 Chevrolet truck. And he has big plans for it.

"I'm going to take almost every body part off this truck… Make it sunkist orange… sliced into a shortbed… Chop it make this flat… Two boom boxes in there," Zak said

"I want it to be not just a good truck, but a nice and crazy good truck," he said.

He's still a kid, but in many ways, he's had to grow up far too fast. His dad was killed in an alcohol related crash six months ago.

"I miss every bit about him," Zak said.

Brian Yocham battled alcoholism for years. Zak wants to bring awareness to the dangers of the disease by restoring this old truck, one just like his dad's first truck.

"then mom, we can go to all the car shows and tell everybody about alcoholism and drunk driving," Martin said.

The more people who come to see his truck at shows, the more will hear about the dangers of alcoholism.

"I will tell them what it's about and what happened to him," Zak said.

"All they need to do is have probably a five minute conversation with Zachery and they'll know what he's trying to get them to understand," Martin said.

He'll get some help along the way from some of his dad's friends, but Zak will do much of the work himself. "I'm going to do it though. I have to," he said.

Zak's mom says he's driven, and with that drive, with the determination few ten year olds possess, he'll do it. To honor his dad who he loved and to fight a disease he hates.

The truck's restoration should take six to eight months.