STP (motor oil company)

For other meanings of "STP" see STP.

STP is a brand name and trade name for the automotive additives and performance division of the Clorox Corporation.   Founded in 1953 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the company’s name, STP, was derived from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”. The company entered into the marketplace with one product, STP Oil Treatment.

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In 1961 the company was acquired by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Studebaker briefly tied STP into its advertising as an acronym for “Studebaker Tested Products”. However Studebaker-Packard CEO Sherwood Egbert, felt that STP could one day out-pace its parent company and recruited Andy Granatelli as the CEO of STP to help raise the product’s image. At the same time, Granatelli also became the public face of STP, often wearing a white suit emblazoned with the red oval trade-marked “STP” logo to race events, passing out thousands of all weather STP stickers. Granatelli ran two Novi specials at the 64 Indy 500. Jimmy Hurtubise and Bobby Unser were the drivers. There was a film made of the race centering on the Novis. While Studebaker abandoned auto manufacturing in 1966 to become a closed investment company, STP sales continued to climb to the point where it was spun-off of Studebaker-Worthington Corporation’s balance sheet and into a publicly traded company in 1969.

For a long time STP was the sponsor of stock-car drivers Richard Petty and John Andretti, as well as having been a sponsor of Indy racecar driver Mario Andretti, John's uncle. That partnership ended shortly after its acquisition by Clorox.

In the fall of 2006, STP fuel additives began being used in Marathon gasolines, likely to compete with Chevron's Techron additive.

Jingle

One advertisement was sung to the tune of the "Toreador" song from the opera Carmen:

STP, you need some STP

One little can will keep you running free

Smoother, cooler, quieter, longer too

"The Racer's Edge" was made for you

When engines need a friend, you must agree

That friend is STP