Four-Time Car Owner Champion Jim Coyle’s Memories Live On At ARCA Office

Over the recent Easter weekend, ARCA president Ron Drager made a trip to Newark, Ohio. Those who have followed the ARCA Menards Series since the late 1970s and through the mid-1990s will recognize that town, located east of Columbus, as the home of long-time team sponsor Riverside Auto Parts — and the hometown of four-time ARCA car owner champion Jim Coyle.

Sadly, Coyle passed away last May at the age of 89. Before he passed, he reached out to Drager — whom he had known since 1978 — and invited him down to look through a treasure trove of historic artifacts from a lifetime of racing.

“Jim was a four-time national champion car owner and someone who spent his entire life around racing,” Drager said. “When I went and spent some time with him, we had a nice visit, but clearly his health was failing, and he had very little extended family and certainly no one who was left who had any real connection to his lifetime of achievement.

“He made it known to me that when he passed, he wanted some of these wonderful memories to live on at the ARCA home office.”

Drager from that first visit brought home, among other items, a flag signed by many drivers in the field from the 1986 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Coyle’s fourth and final owner championship with driver Lee Raymond at the wheel.

It was Raymond’s second consecutive series title, a feat Coyle also accomplished with veteran driver Marvin Smith in 1978 and 1979.

Coyle also gave Drager a hand-made die cast of the iconic orange No. 1 Riverside Auto Parts Monte Carlo that Raymond drove to the championship that season, plus his custom engraved championship belt buckle.

“That championship checkered flag is an incredible piece of our history,” said ARCA Menards Series communications manager Charles Krall. “To look at it and see the signatures is really amazing. So many of those drivers went on and had wonderful careers of their own.

“I was a young kid, just 14 when Lee Raymond won the championship in 1986, but seeing all those names takes me right back to those days. It’s a really amazing thing to see.”

Added Drager: “Gary Combs and Jim’s neighbor Butch Dunlap got a hold of me and let me know it was time it was time to come down and archive his ARCA memorabilia and possessions before they cleared out his belongings. Jim had told me it would just end up in a box somewhere in someone’s basement forever, or worse, sent to a landfill.

“So, I planned another trip and rescued some things we will proudly display in our offices. Things like a couple of Jim’s championship plaques and some amazing photos. Jim was a big part of our history and supported the series in some of our most challenging times in the early 1980s.

“We miss him, but we will gladly memorialize and remember him for his great ARCA contributions and accomplishments.”

Coyle earned a total of 24 career ARCA Menards Series wins as an owner. Twenty came with Smith driving, dating from his first win at Avilla Speedway in their first championship season in 1978 through his final career win in 1995 at Flat Rock. Raymond won four more, including a dominating win in a 200-miler at DuQuoin in 1985.

Others that drove Coyle’s orange No.1 Riverside Auto Parts cars include Ohio racing legend Jim Cushman and NASCAR Cup Series driver Ken Schrader.