‘The coolest thing in the world’: William Avila captures NASCAR Local Racing Series Division IV national championship

April 23, 2025 was the day William Avila lost his best friend. Cody Pryor, 36, was killed in an accident around 6 a.m. that morning on South 430 Road near Pryor, Oklahoma. A dedicated member of the local racing community at tracks like Arrowhead Speedway and Salina Highbanks Speedway, Pryor's passing was felt across the region. Among those who felt the loss most was Avila, an Oklahoma transplant who had relocated from California several years earlier. “When he passed away, it was rough,” said Avila. “I look at myself, and think I’m a great person. I do a lot of stuff for a lot of different people with nothing in return. That’s all he did for me. I saw a lot of myself in him and him in me. “The hole that he left in the community, I want to fill. When it came to the racing part of it, that was something we did together, and I know his kids and his family, they all loved it. I couldn’t let that go.” Avila, a regular competitor at Arrowhead and Salina in the RWD Interceptor class, felt the best thing he could do to honor Pryor’s memory was to continue racing and supporting the budget racing division the two had grown to love. That dedication and passion, combined with Avila’s desire to honor Pryor, turned into something bigger this year when Avila secured the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts Division IV national championship. RELATED: Final NASCAR Local Racing Series Division IV standings [caption id="attachment_528935" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] William Avila won the RWD Interceptor track championships at Arrowhead Speedway and Salina Highbanks Speedway this year. (Photo: Arrowhead Speedway)[/caption] “I hadn’t looked into any of this; toward the end of the season is when I found out I was in the hunt for it,” said the 47-year-old Avila, who won 15 times at Arrowhead and Salina in 24 NASCAR-sanctioned races en route to his first national championship. “Obviously at that point I was all excited about it. To win it is just awesome. “The plan was to just dominate, and we did.” Avila’s road to a national championship started in the town of his birth, Roseville, California. Roseville is the home of another NASCAR Local Racing Series track in All American Speedway. “I started racing out there at All American Speedway when I was about 14,” Avila said. “I moved here (to Oklahoma) in ’97. When I moved, I sold all of my stuff. I brought two motors and three transmissions with me in like a five by eight U-Haul trailer. “I ended up getting a car, putting it together and racing until about 2002.” After the 2002 season, Avila stopped racing cold turkey. He didn’t return to motorsports until 2008, when he began amateur drag racing at venues across the region. [caption id="attachment_528938" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] William Avila won 15 times in 24 NASCAR-sanctioned features between Arrowhead Speedway and Salina Highbanks Speedway this season. (Photo: No Limit Photography)[/caption] That continued until three years ago, when he got the itch to go dirt racing with a Ford Crown Victoria, or a Crown Vic for short. “Somebody had mentioned this Crown Vic class. It was mainly an enduro thing. I was mainly just wanting to do enduros,” Avila said. “I just caught the bug, and I had to race every weekend. That’s when I met Cody.” Together with Pryor, Avila quickly became a regular face at Arrowhead and Salina. Trips to Victory Lane weren’t far behind, and together, the pair soon began building an arsenal of race cars they would take to the track for themselves and other drivers, including family members like Pryor’s daughter Addi. When Pryor passed away in 2025, Avila took it upon himself to continue what they started. By the end of 2025, Avila had swept the RWD Interceptor championships at both tracks while continuing to field additional cars for multiple drivers. “There were times I wanted to quit,” Avila said. “I was just like, 'Man, what am I doing?' My buddy is gone. I missed him. I didn’t know what to do. That day when we had the memorial on the track, we had 13 cars on the track that I owned and took care of. I kept them all going for the remainder of the season out of my own pocket.” This year, he took things a step further. With the addition of Arrowhead Speedway as a NASCAR Local Racing Series track, Avila was able to chase a national championship. Avila was already in control of the Division IV standings by the time the calendar reached late July. From there, he continued adding to his point total. He ended the season with 434 points, 60 more than runner-up Luke Bouma from Michigan's Berlin Raceway. In addition to the Division IV national championship, Avila secured the RWD Interceptor championships at Arrowhead and Salina for the second consecutive season and clinched the Division IV Midwest Region championship. [caption id="attachment_528939" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] William Avila is dedicated to helping grow Crown Vic racing across Oklahoma while helping fellow racers learn what it takes to be competitive. (Photo: No Limit Photography)[/caption] Only a few years ago, a season like this didn’t seem possible. Now Avila is both a multi-time track champion and a NASCAR national champion. “It’s crazy because I’m not the type of person to gloat or brag on myself,” Avila said. “I look at this, and I just think it’s awesome. It’s just the coolest thing in the world to me. I don’t put myself on a level that is unattainable for other people. “I look at it like, yes, I’ve done this, but I had a lot of support getting there. I owe it to my entire team that I have built throughout the years. It was all of us that helped me get to where I’m at. “I don’t say, ‘Yay, I’m a champion,’ although I am. I think that we, as a team, are the champions.” Going forward, Avila wants to continue growing the Crown Vic platform in Oklahoma. His goal is to be a resource to other drivers looking for a budget-friendly form of racing. He wants to lend a helping hand however he can. He’ll do that not just because he wants to, but because it’s what his best friend would have wanted to do, too. “My plan is to continue racing as long as I can, and when I can’t race anymore, I just want to help and keep the team going,” Avila said. “Currently, I think I have around 13 or 14 cars. They don’t all race every weekend, but sometimes I’ll just make a Facebook post, and I’ll say hey, if somebody wants to come race this weekend, just show up at the track. The car will be there. Just sit in the car, drive the car and when you’re done, go home. “I want to keep doing that. That is my plan, because I’ve been fortunate in my life that I can do that for people. When the money is gone, the money is gone. For as long as I am able and willing to work, I have my own business, so I work, but as long as I can work, the money is not going to stop.”