Archives For Meet The Team

Congratulations To Our 2013 Employee Of The Year: Chris Horton

mblackwell —  January 30, 2014 | Category: Company News, Meet The Team | Comment

Chris-Horton-CV-ProductsLate last year, the head honchos here at CV Products got together to choose our Employee of The Year. Officially recognized with the Larry “Bunk” Nichols Award for outstanding achievement, the employee of the year must meet specific criteria, including:

  • Work at the company or one of our subsidiaries for at least three (3) years
  • Demonstrate a strong work ethic
  • Support humanitarian efforts
  • Uphold our three core values (integrity, teamwork, and safety)

Our 2013 employee of the year – CV’s Continuous Improvement Facilitator, Chris Horton – certainly lived up to the standards we set for outstanding achievement. This October, Chris will celebrate his 15-year anniversary with our company. After joining us in 1999, he worked his way up through the warehouse to the Warehouse Manager position before being promoted to his current job.

A volunteer firefighter in our local community, Chris was instrumental in the success of two recent projects here at CV. As many people know, in April of 2013, we acquired Cycra Racing Systems. What you may not know is that Chris was a member of the team that Continue reading…

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Meet The Team: CV Products Salesman Carl Pitts

CV Products —  October 16, 2013 | Category: Meet The Team | Comment

Carl-PittsIt’s only fitting that we’re directing the Meet The Team spotlight on Carl Pitts this time around because this popular CV Products salesman was also just named October employee of the month. That makes it a two-fer for Carl, who joined us back in 2004 and is a salesman on the Mooresville, N.C. sales team.

While we’ll mostly be talking about Carl’s job here, you should know that this active family man has a lot of outside interests, including traveling, woodworking, motorcycling — plus keeping five grandchildren entertained.

So here’s what Carl has to say about his other family — CV Products:

CV Products: What did you do prior to coming to work for CV Products?

Carl Pitts: I worked in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for 26 years in Indiana and Kansas and ended my medical career working at a hospital in Kansas City in charge of medical equipment and supplies. I was the supervisor for the Central Service department.

CV Products: Where did you go to college?

Carl: I’m a 1977 graduate of Ivy Tech College in Indianapolis, Ind.

CV Products: What attracted you to come to work for CV Products?

Carl: I moved to Mooresville, N.C., to follow my passion — which is racing — and I wanted to be part of a company that I could grow with and have stability. I knew CV Products was the No. 1 supplier to the motorsports teams and wanted to be part of this company. I joined the company in 2004.

CV Products: How would you describe an average day for you here at CV Products?

Carl: I provide counter and phone sales to all venues of racing. My day starts at about 7:30 a.m. and I restock the showroom for the day, plumb oil lines, draw up valve prints as requested, and help both phone and walk in customers. 

CV Products: What reality TV show should you be on and why would you win or lose?

Carl: It would be Survivor for sure and I would win! My parents taught me survival skills from a young age when we used to camp almost every weekend and most of the summer. My dad taught me about edible plants, how to trap, fish and to make it on your own in the wilderness. With this knowledge and my medical skills I could survive without a doubt.

CV Products: What’s your all-time favorite CV Products item and why?

Carl: The Xceldyne titanium valves. After touring Xceldyne, I was fascinated by the inertia welding process. The minute tolerances that they hold the specs to and the final inspection process are fascinating.

CV Products: What’s one thing not many people know about you?

Carl: That I went to grade school where the movie Hoosiers was filmed.

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Meet The Team – CV Products Vendor Profile: Eaton-Aeroquip

CV Products —  July 30, 2013 | Category: Meet The Team | Comment

Editor’s Note: This month’s Meet the Team blog post puts the focus fully on our friends and valued partners at Aeroquip, which now operates as a subsidiary of Eaton, the highly respected mobile, industrial, aerospace, automotive, aerospace and military conglomerate. Now known as Eaton-Aeroquip, this race-oriented manufacturing firm — known then as Aeroquip Corp. — was founded in Maumee, Ohio, back in 1940.

Aeroquip_LogoThe reason Eaton-Aeroquip holds such a special place in our hearts is because the company has been aligned with us almost since CV Product’s inception in 1988. In fact, we’ve been distributing the Aeroquip line of high performance auto plumbing products for the last 23 years, making it one of the first product lines CV offered.

What Aeroquip does — and does so well — is develop and manufacture hoses, fittings, adapters, couplings and fluid connectors for use in the high-performance racing market. In addition to being used in NASCAR’s lower divisions (i.e., K&N East and K&N West Series), where these Aeroquip goodies really shine is on the drag strip, the asphalt short track and most dirt racing applications.

Here at CV, Aeroquip’s products fall under the heading of “performance plumbing,” offering American-made performance hose and fittings from a company that is the only one we know of that designs and manufactures its own hose. Engineers at Aeroquip personally test each hose length to ensure a superior level of strength and safety. As a matter of fact, every one of Aeroquip’s hoses are Continue reading…

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Meet The Team: Product Specialist Bill Wheatley

CV Products —  June 14, 2013 | Category: Meet The Team | 2 Comments

To say Bill Wheatley is a man who wears many hats would be an understatement. It would also constitute dredging up an archaic expression that’s become old hat (another archaic expression), so we just aren’t going to go there. Let’s simply say that Bill is a busy man here at CV Products. As product specialist, his job has grown exponentially over the past 23 years, including a decade as the company’s purchasing director.

Bill Wheatly CV Products

Bill Wheatley, CV Products

Today, Bill coordinates patent applications, performs training for the sales staff on new products and other topics, and is a member of our New Product Introductory committee. In addition, he runs testing for CV customers and experimental testing for Xceldyne on the company’s Spintron. He also orders shelf stock from Xceldyne, schedules production priorities for the Job Shop, and is the contract manager for work done by Xceldyne for customers in the aerospace industry. He’s a self-described 911 guy — the person folks go to when they need something technical completed in a timely manner. Like yesterday.

And with that introduction, here’s a Q&A to which we subjected this busy man before he headed off for some other task:

CV Products: Where did you go to college and what did you study?

Bill Wheatley: My college years were spent at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Three years in engineering, then four years in the Air Force, followed by two more years back at the University of Arizona.

CV: What did you do prior to coming to work for CV Products? 

Wheatley: Here in the south I worked for Ram Automotive, then Kenny Bernstein’s NASCAR team and then Jerry Hemmingson, who manufactures the Jerico four-speed transmission. After that, I helped Roy Hill start his drag race school.

CV: What attracted you to CV Products? 

Wheatley: It’s a small company and the owner is a good, honest person.

CV: When you’re not working, what do you like to do in your spare time? 

Wheatley: Maintain the Wheatley family estate, visit my kids, and Continue reading…

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CV Products Vendor Profile — Mahle Clevite

CV Products —  April 29, 2013 | Category: CV Products Vendor, Meet The Team | Comment

Editor’s Note: Today we’re pleased to share our third vendor profile, highlighting the history, products and accomplishments of one of the many high-performance auto racing brand we specialize in here at CV Products. This time around, we’re putting the klieg lights on Mahle Clevite, a 93-year-old manufacturer of bearings, bushings and piston rings made especially for the racing industry. Here at CV Products, we carry three of the company’s lines: Clevite cam bearings, Clevite rod bearings, and Clevite piston rings.

Pistons being washed by Mahle Clevite employee.

Pistons being washed by Mahle Clevite employee.

Mahle began in 1920 as a small German test workshop that soon determined it needed to develop some auto products to sell in order to finance the combustion engine testing performed there. Back then, pistons were made of heavy cast iron. The Mahle brothers — Hermann and Ernst — were instrumental in helping the company develop the first light alloy pistons in Germany. Then, in order to keep dirt and dust out of the engines they were testing, they developed air and oil filters. As their aluminum pistons became increasingly popular, the company grew.

And by grow, we mean Mahle is now among the top 30 automotive suppliers worldwide and one of the three largest suppliers of piston systems, cylinder components, valve train systems, air management systems and liquid management systems on this planet. The company has about 48,000 employees working in 100 production plants and seven research and development centers worldwide.

But what’s more important to those of us who like our keep our racing machines at a constant top speed is Mahle’s high-quality components for motorsport. We’re talking about auto racing pistons, piston rings, piston pins, connecting rods, bearings and bushings that have been Continue reading…

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Meet The Team: Christine Beightol, Engineer at Xceldyne Technologies

CV Products —  March 29, 2013 | Category: Meet The Team | 1 Comment
Christie Beightol, Xceldyne Engineer

Christie Beightol, Xceldyne Engineer

Maintaining a consistent enthusiasm for your job is easy to accomplish when you’re an experienced engineer working for one of the top racing valvetrain system manufacturers in the world and you’re also a gigantic fan of motorsports, racing and NASCAR. That saturated-in-satisfaction employee would by Christine Beightol, a mechanical engineer for Xceldyne Technologies, a division of CV Products headquartered in the same business park as our own headquarters in Thomasville, N.C.

For years, our team over at Xceldyne has set the bar for crafting durable, reliable and high-performance titanium valves and valvetrain components targeting the motorsport racing community. And Christine has been there with us, joining Xceldyne in the summer of 2007. She’s got a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from GMI Engineering & Management Institute in Flint, Mich. (now Kettering University), and an associate of science degree in motorsports management technology from Rowan Cabarrus Community College in North Carolina.

Let’s learn a little bit more about this engineer with a penchant for speed. Meet Christine Beightol:

CV Products: What did you do prior to coming to work for CV Products? 

Christine Beightol: I have held positions in quality and design engineering for various manufacturing companies in North Carolina. I also worked in the engine department at Bill Davis Racing in High Point before joining CV Products.

CV: What attracted you to CV Products?

Christine: I have always loved racing and wanted to Continue reading…

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