Clyde Vickers

Vickers was raised in Silver Valley, North Carolina and attended high school there. As a young man, Vickers owned a service station in Thomasville, North Carolina and worked as a car salesman in High Point, North Carolina.[2][3]

Vickers began stock car racing in 1973 in the Hobby division and later moved into the Late Model Sportsman division, racing at Caraway Speedway and Bowman Gray Stadium.[2][3]

Vickers raced intermittently into the early 1980s,[4][5] with downtime caused by financial difficulties. In the mid-1970s he went to work on several NASCAR crews, including those run by Morgan Shepherd and Richard Childress.[6][7]

In 1988, Vickers founded CV Products, an auto racing and powersports parts company located in Thomasville, North Carolina.[4][8][9] Vickers remained active in racing during this period, working as a spotter and crew member for former Winston Cup driver Jimmy Means until 1993.[10][11]

In 1993, in addition to his work with his new company, Vickers began helping his son Brian Vickers with his career as a Go-Kart racer.[10] The younger Vickers later began racing stock cars at age 13 in the Winston Cup series.[12][13]

In 2001, Vickers owned a team which raced in the Busch series[14] in which Brian Vickers was a driver. The team was not a financial success.[15] Brian later went on to drive for other teams and win many races.

In 2007 Vickers also was owner of another motorsport company, Xceldyne.[16] By 2009 the companies had merged and were presented with a North Carolina Motorsports Industry Association award as the best large company.[17]

In 2013 CV Products employed 160 people.[18] That year, Vickers was appointed to the North Carolina Motorsports Council.[19][20]