Clyde Vickers is a motorsport industry businessman, and a former stock car racing driver and team owner. Vickers owns CV Products which manufactures and distributes race parts and accessories, [1] as well as several other smaller businesses.
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 NASCAR 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]
Talladega Superspeedway, nicknamed "Dega", and formerly named Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) from 1969 to 1989, is a motorsports complex located in Lincoln, Alabama, north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base. A tri-oval, the track was constructed in 1969 by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family. As of 2023, the track hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and ARCA Menards Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, with a length of 2.660 mi (4.281 km), compared to the Daytona International Speedway, which is 2.500 mi (4.023 km) long. The total peak capacity of Talladega is around 175,000 spectators, with the main grandstand capacity being about 80,000.
James Carlyle "Carl" Long is an American professional stock car racing driver, mechanic, and team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Supra for MBM Motorsports. In the past, he served as a mechanic for Mansion Motorsports, Spears Motorsports, and Travis Carter Motorsports. He was a crew chief at Front Row Motorsports for Eric McClure and Competition director at Rick Ware Racing.
Kenneth Lee Wallace is an American former race car driver and former reporter for Fox NASCAR. He retired from NASCAR in 2015 after driving in the national series since 1988. In a career spanning 25 years in NASCAR, Wallace had nine wins, all occurring in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Now retired from NASCAR competition, he continues to race on local dirt tracks across the country as a hobby.
Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III, nicknamed "Mr. H", is an American businessman. He is best known as the owner of the NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. He is also a co-owner of JR Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group, a network of over 100 car dealerships.
Wendell Oliver Scott was an American stock car racing driver. He was the first African-American driver and team owner to compete and win in all divisions of NASCAR at its highest level.
Michael Duane Bliss is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series.
Elzie Wylie Baker Sr., better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia Speedway. Twenty-seven years later, Baker retired after 1976 National 500.
John Edward Burton III is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He has five career wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, including the 2002 Daytona 500 and the 2001 Southern 500. A member of the Burton racing family, he is the older brother of fellow NASCAR driver and NASCAR on NBC broadcaster Jeff Burton, the father of current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Jeb Burton, and the uncle of current NASCAR Cup Series driver Harrison Burton. He currently operates the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, a conservation and sportsmans' organization.
Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 296 Cup Series races and 14 Cup Series owners and drivers championships to go with three Truck Series owners and drivers titles and one Xfinity Series drivers crown. Additionally, the team has 26 Xfinity Series race wins, 26 Truck Series race wins, and seven ARCA Racing Series race wins.
Shane Riley Hmiel is an American former racecar driver, who competed in all three of NASCAR's national series. Hmiel's controversial stock car career, marred by accidents from his aggressive driving style, ended in 2006 after he failed a third substance abuse test and was banned from competing in NASCAR for life. After rebuilding his career in open wheel racing, primarily in United States Auto Club sanctioned dirt track racing, Hmiel was paralyzed in a near fatal racing accident on October 9, 2010, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Prior to the accident, Hmiel had become the first driver to win the Hoosier Hundred, Rich Vogler Classic, and the Pat O'Connor Memorial, the three premier USAC midget-car races, in the same season.
Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman, the founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series. The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. MWR was also the last original Toyota team in the Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years.
Clyde J. "Butch" Lindley Jr. was a Short track racer. He was the champion of the NASCAR Sportsman Division in 1977 and 1978.
Peyton Sellers is an American professional stock car racing driver. He won the 2005 and 2021 national championship of NASCAR's Weekly Racing Series. He competed for several seasons in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series.
Kevin Conway is an American professional stock car racing driver who currently races in the Blancpain Super Trofeo Championship. He is the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year (ROTY), 2014 Super Trofeo World Champion, and two-time North American Super Trofeo Series Champion. Conway has raced in motocross, legends, the World Karting Association, United States Automobile Club (USAC), American Speed Association (ASA), NASCAR's regional K&N Pro Series West, and all three of NASCAR's national touring series.
The 2008 Coca-Cola 600, the 49th running of the event, was a NASCAR stock car race held on May 25, 2008, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The race was the twelfth stock car race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. The 400-lap race was won by Kasey Kahne of the Gillett Evernham Motorsports team, who started from the 2nd position. Greg Biffle finished second and Kyle Busch came in third.
Braun Motorsports, formerly known as Braun Racing, was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Best known as one of the top independent Xfinity Series teams from 2003 to 2010, the team also made several starts in the Sprint Cup Series. The team was owned by Todd Braun, son of Braun Corporation founder Ralph Braun. The team formerly had alliances with Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and the team's operations also included former entries from ppc Racing and Akins Motorsports.
Brian Lee Vickers is an American 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 injured Tony Stewart. He won the 2003 NASCAR Busch Series championship driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Vickers was also among the first series of full-time drivers for Toyota after the manufacturer first entered the Sprint Cup Series.
Waddell Wilson is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series crew chief and engine builder. He was the winning crew chief for the Daytona 500 in 1980, 1983, and 1984. He was crew chief or engine builder for Holman-Moody, Harry Ranier, and Hendrick Motorsports. Drivers included Bobby Allison, Mario Andretti, Buddy Baker, Geoff Bodine, A. J. Foyt, Junior Johnson, Fred Lorenzen, Cale Yarborough and Ricky Rudd.
Circle Sport Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 2011 as LTD PowerSports, fielding the No. 50 for T. J. Bell, and later in 2012, the team fielded the No. 40 and the No. 33 part-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, while fielding the No. 27 in the Camping World Truck Series. In 2014, the team pulled out of the truck series and began fielding the No. 40 Cup car full-time, alongside the part-time No. 33.