uses see stp disambiguation . stp product type automotive performance products owner armored autogroup country united states introduced 1953 website www.stp.com stp an abbreviation originally derived from scientifically treated petroleum is an american brand and trade name for the automotive additives lubricants and performance division of armored autogroup which also own the brand armor all which was acquired by spectrum brands . 1 contents 1 history 2 oil treatment 3 sponsorships 4 references 5 external links history edit chemical compounds was founded in 1953 by three businessmen charles dwight doc liggett jim hill and robert de hart 2 with 3 000 in start up capital in saint joseph missouri . their sole product was stp oil treatment the name was derived from scientifically treated petroleum . 3 in 1961 the company was acquired by the studebaker packard corporation . studebaker briefly tied stp into its advertising as an abbreviation for studebaker tested products . however studebaker packard ceo sherwood egbert felt that stp could one day outpace its parent company and recruited andy granatelli as the ceo of stp to help raise the product s image . at the same time granatelli became the public face of stp often wearing a white suit emblazoned with the red oval stp logo to races distributing thousands of all weather stp stickers . granatelli ran two novi specials at the 1964 indianapolis 500 . jim hurtubise and bobby unser were the drivers . there was a film made of the race centering on the novis . when studebaker abandoned auto manufacturing in 1966 to become studebaker worthington stp sales continued to climb to the point where it was spun off into a publicly traded company in 1969 . in 1976 it was acquired by esmark which itself was purchased by beatrice foods in 1984 . beatrice sold stp to union carbide the next year . in 1986 union carbide s auto products which included prestone and simoniz were subject to a leveraged buyout . the resulting company first brands was purchased by clorox in 1998 . in 2010 clorox sold armorall and stp to avista capital partners . it named the business armored autogroup . in the fall of 2006 stp fuel additives began being used in marathon gasolines likely to compete with chevron s techron additive . 4 in 1976 stp faced a consumer protection order that required it to have scientific backing for certain statements and prohibited making false claims . in 1978 it paid a 500 000 civil penalty over claims . in 1995 stp paid 888 000 to settle federal trade commission charges of false advertising . 5 6 oil treatment edit stp oil treatment contains zinc dithiophosphate as an anti wear additive . sponsorships edit the 43 driven by bobby hamilton at phoenix international raceway in 1972 granatelli agreed to sponsor nascar champion richard petty 7 but their deal almost fell apart before their first race . andy insisted the car be stp day glo red . richard held out for his iconic petty blue and neither would budge . the resulting two tone red and blue scheme became more famous than either color alone . stp sponsored petty through the end of his driving career in 1992 then bobby hamilton and john andretti in petty enterprises famous 43 as well as indy racecar driver mario andretti john s uncle . that partnership ended shortly after its acquisition by clorox . stp and the petty family hold the second longest relationship in automobile racing history 1972 2000 . kenny bernstein and son brandon were sponsored by budweiser for two years longer 1979 2009 . in august 2012 stp announced that it will be the title sponsor of the world of outlaws sprint car series in 2013 . 8 on february 21 2013 stp announced a return to nascar sprint cup series sponsorship in a multi year deal for the stp gas booster 500 starting april 7 2013 at martinsville speedway along with a return as primary sponsor of the richard petty motorsports no. 43 for the 2013 stp gas booster 500 . 9 stp also sponsored the xfinity series race stp 300 from 2011 to 2013 at chicagoland speedway . references edit hrg group inc. april 28 2015 . hrg group inc. announces armored autogroup acquisition by spectrum brands . prnewswire.com press release . new york . retrieved july 31 2016 . the history of stp . studebaker info.org . retrieved july 31 2016 . faqs general . stp.com . archived from the original on march 10 2015 . retrieved july 31 2016 . marathon gasoline with stp additives . marathonpetroleum.com . august 6 2012 . retrieved february 27 2013 . u.s. settlement reached on stp oil ads . the new york times . washington . bloomberg business news . december 4 1995 . retrieved july 31 2016 . stp to pay 888 000 civil penalty to settle charges over ad campaign for stp engine treatment . federal trade commission . december 1 1995 . retrieved july 31 2016 . richard petty . stp.com . retrieved july 31 2016 . stp becomes title sponsor . woosprint.com . concord north carolina . august 9 2012 . retrieved july 31 2016 . iconic motorsports brands stp and martinsville speedway join forces pdf . stp.com press release . martinsville virginia . february 21 2013 . archived from the original pdf on march 8 2013 . retrieved july 31 2016 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title stp motor oil company & oldid 744105414 categories oil companies of the united statesautomotive companies of the united stateschemical companies of the united statescompanies based in missouriamerican brandsclorox brands1953 introductionsamerican companies established in 1953manufacturing companies established in 1953non renewable resource companies established in 1953richard pettyst . joseph missouri navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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