{"id":4229,"date":"2025-04-01T17:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T11:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c38a2c2a6e.nxcli.io\/uk\/?page_id=4229"},"modified":"2025-04-10T17:08:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T11:38:56","slug":"richard-petty","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stp.com\/uk\/about-us\/racing\/richard-petty\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Petty"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Racing Royalty: \u201cThe King\u201d<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Always an STP man\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BY MIKE HARRIS \n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The deal that forever changed the NASCAR sponsorship landscape and resulted in one of the most famous race cars in history almost didn\u2019t happen because two stubborn men disagreed over the color scheme.<\/p>

Richard Petty had been affiliated with STP since 1972 when he was approached by then STP president Andy Granatelli about putting the company\u2019s logo on the famed No. 43 race car. Petty was actively seeking sponsorship, and Granatelli had long been interested in finding a way into NASCAR after considerable success in open-wheel racing and drag racing.<\/p>

Granatelli was looking for a well-known face to represent his product, and Petty, known as The King, was a perfect fit given that he was as comfortable under the hood as behind the wheel. Petty knew what STP, the sponsor and the product, could do for his team. \u201cGranatelli had made up his mind that he wanted to sign us up,\u201d Petty explained. \u201cSo, when we went in, he said, \u201cHere\u2019s the contract, here\u2019s the deal: $250,000 for a sponsorship and we want to advertise you all over the country.\u2019<\/p>

It all sounded good to The King. Then the issue of the paint scheme came up.<\/p>

\u201cWe talked to Granatelli and everything was chugging along. We agreed on a contract and as we got up to leave, he said, \u2018By the way, the car will be Day-Glo Red,\u2019 which is STP colors. I said, \u2018No way. The car\u2019s got to be Petty Blue.\u2019 I got up to leave. That\u2019s how stubborn I was. And he was pretty stubborn, too.\u201d Petty grinned as he recalled the moment.<\/p>

\u201cI guess I wasn\u2019t too bright to say no,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had nothing, no sponsorship, and I was turning down $250,000.\u201d<\/p>

Cooler heads prevailed as Granatelli suggested Petty think about it overnight.<\/p>

The next morning, a compromise was reached creating the iconic Day-Glo Red and Petty Blue race cars that The King, long the most popular driver in the sport and still a fan favorite as a team owner and ambassador for stock car racing, drove for the rest of his career. It was a huge deal for STP and Granatelli, who had been unable to get into NASCAR because Pure Oil had an exclusive deal with the series.<\/p>

\u201cWe used to have to catch the drivers about a mile away from the track and give them STP products so they could use them,\u2019\u2019 Granatelli noted. \u201cEven though we weren\u2019t getting the benefit of it, the drivers were. So we got the drivers more acclimated to using our products.\u201d<\/p>

The money in that first contract was a big deal, too. The STP sponsorship gave Petty a competitive advantage.<\/p>

\u201cThe $250,000 gave us a squirt over everybody else, so we could have better equipment,\u201d Petty said. \u201cThat started a revolution of people being able to get money from outside and having part of their budget already paid for before the season started. We used to start and you didn\u2019t have a budget. You just went from race to race to race. That\u2019s what you had to work with.\u201d<\/p>

Jim Hunter, a longtime NASCAR executive, said the advent of the STP-Petty relationship was a key moment in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>

\u201cPetty had a lifetime contract and STP used him well. It was a marketing company and they tied all of their advertising into racing, particularly with The King,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIn my opinion, it was the gold standard of NASCAR sponsorships.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSTP was the first nationwide sponsor in Cup racing,\u201d Petty said. \u201cYou\u2019d always have mom and pop\u2019s grocery store or somebody\u2019s garage or somebody\u2019s dealership, but that was done mostly on a local basis. Nobody had a nationwide deal. That was the first time bringing Cup racing to the nation. Once STP did it, then I think Purolator came along and then a lot of others followed.\u201d<\/p>

The King signed a lifetime contract, in effect as long as Petty drove a race car. But the deal was extended even beyond his driving career, which ended in 1992, a sponsorship that lasted more than 32 years.<\/p>

And it isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re still associated, not on sponsorship but on personal services. Since \u201972, Richard Petty has been an STP man and I guess he always will be,\u201d The King concluded, grinning.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racing Royalty: \u201cThe King\u201d Always an STP man BY MIKE HARRIS The deal that forever changed the NASCAR sponsorship landscape and resulted in one of the most famous race cars in history almost didn\u2019t happen because two stubborn men disagreed over the color scheme. Richard Petty had been affiliated with STP since 1972 when he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4271,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4229","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRichard Petty - STP UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stp.com\/uk\/about-us\/racing\/richard-petty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Petty - STP UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Racing Royalty: \u201cThe King\u201d Always an STP man BY MIKE HARRIS The deal that forever changed the NASCAR sponsorship landscape and resulted in one of the most famous race cars in history almost didn\u2019t happen because two stubborn men disagreed over the color scheme. 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