Daytona Countdown – 1: Championship-winning car owner Jim Coyle

The vast majority of owners in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards do not have the good fortune to end the season celebrating a series championship. Those who do it are often lucky enough to do it with one driver. One in particular, Jum Coyle, was fortunate enough to do it multiple times each with two different drivers.

Jim’s iconic bright orange No. 1 Riverside Auto Parts cars carried Newark, Ohio’s Marv Smith to the series title in 1978 and 1979, then again took Lee Raymond to the championship in 1985 and 1986.

Coyle’s four titles as a car owner are behind only Larry Clement and Jack Bowsher on the all-time list.

Smith’s championship in 1978 was bolstered by three wins over the course of the year, two back-to-back at Avilla Speedway on June 10 and then the very next weekend at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville. He closed the season with his third win at Jeffersonville, Indiana, defeating hometown favorite Bill Kimmel and Moose Myers. Smith won the title by 35 points over Delmar Clark, with Kimmel, Meyers and Bill Green the rest of the top five.

In 1979, Smith again won three times, at Nashville, Salem, and Illiana. He closed out the year with a 60-point advantage over Myers, Green, Clark, and Steve Ellis.

Smith departed the Coyle team in 1983, opening the door for Dayton’s Lee Raymond to step in. A second-generation ARCA driver, following in his father Joe’s footsteps, Lee was the 1982 rookie of the year and drove the 1983 season for his family-owned team. In 1984, Lee took over the potent No. 1 machine and earned a victory at Spartan Speedway in Lansing, Michigan.

The Coyle-Raymond combination hit its stride in 1985. Another win, in a 200-miler on the dirt at DuQuoin, was backed up by 12 top ten finishes in 14 starts. A tenth-place finish in the season finale at Toledo locked up his first series championship by 150 points over Bill Venturini. Davey Allison, Bob Brevak, and David Simko rounded out the top five.

Raymond went back-to-back with his second championship the following season. Raymond won the season opener – in November, 1985 at Atlanta – and never relinquished the point lead. He ended the year with 13 top ten finishes in 16 starts and a whopping 470-point advantage over Bob Dotter.

Coyle’s final win as an owner came in 1995 when he again teamed with Marv Smith for a win at Flat Rock Speedway.

Twenty of Smith’s 21 ARCA wins and four of Raymond’s seven career ARCA wins came in Coyle’s No. 1 cars.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will take the green flag in the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire on Saturday, February 9 at 4:30 pm ET. The race will be televised live on FS1. ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates free for registered users.