Clyde Vickers (August 24, 1951 – January 3, 2025) was an American motorsport industry businessman, and a

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver and team owner. Vickers owned CV Products which manufactures and distributes race parts and accessories, as well as several other smaller businesses.

Background

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 Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 27,183 at the 2020 census. The city was once notable for its furniture industry, as were its neighbors High Point, North Carolina, High Point and Lexington ...

, and worked as a car salesman in

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph County, North Carolina, Randolph, ...

. Vickers died on January 3, 2025, at the age of 73.

Motorsports career

Vickers began stock car racing in 1973 in the Hobby division and later moved into the Late Model Sportsman division, racing at

Caraway Speedway Caraway Speedway is a short track located near Asheboro, North Carolina, U.S. Caraway Speedway was built in 1966 as a dirt track. The track was paved in 1972 and joined the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series family as a asphalt short track ...

and

Bowman Gray Stadium Bowman Gray Stadium is a multi-use sports facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The complex consists of a paved oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track and a gridiron football field. The complex has held various major events since ...

. Vickers raced intermittently into the early 1980s, with downtime caused by financial difficulties. In the mid-1970s he went to work on several NASCAR crews, including those run by

Morgan Shepherd Clay Morgan Shepherd (born October 12, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 89 Chevrolet Camaro for Shepherd Racing Vent ...

and

Richard Childress Richard Reed Childress (born September 21, 1945) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. Childress is the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). In 2004, he opened a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA near Lexington, North Carolina, Le ...

. In 1988, Vickers founded CV Products, an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and powersports parts company located in Thomasville, North Carolina. Vickers remained active in racing during this period, working as a spotter and crew member for former

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

driver

Jimmy Means James Means (born May 29, 1950) is an American former racing driver and owner, who competed in the Winston Cup Series as an owner-driver. He is currently an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and a former owner of NASCAR Xfinity Series team Jim ...

until 1993. In 1993, in addition to his work with his new company, Vickers began helping his son

Brian Vickers Brian Lee Vickers (born October 24, 1983) is an American former professional stock car and sports car racing driver. He last drove the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing as an interim driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the i ...

with his career as a

Go-Kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

racer. The younger Vickers later began racing stock cars at age 13 in the Winston Cup series. In 2001, Vickers owned a team which raced in the

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

. in which Brian Vickers was a driver. The team was not a financial success. Brian later went on to drive for other teams and win many races. In 2007 Vickers also was owner of another motorsport company
Xceldyne
By 2009 the companies had merged and were presented with a North Carolina Motorsports Industry Association award as the best large company. In 2013 CV Products employed 160 people. That year, Vickers was appointed to the North Carolina Motorsports Council.
. ''SGR Today''/

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Clyde 1951 births 2025 deaths Businesspeople from North Carolina NASCAR team owners Racing drivers from North Carolina