STP History
The wide range of STP engine care products available today is due to the vision, ambition and talent of its originator, C. Dwight Liggett who, in the autumn of 1954, started to manufacture an oil additive in a small back street garage in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA.

Liggett called the additive STP (Scientifically Treated Petroleum). Designed to lower oil consumption, improve oil pressure, reduce engine wear and fight the build-up of deposits, the revolutionary product rapidly became a strong seller, and its fame spread across the USA via a network of distributors.

Within four years, the now well-known STP logo appeared on a USA Indy race car and, as the 60's approached, STP also partnered high-profile attacks on land speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats, beginning a story of success in motorsport which continues to this day.

Remarkable amongst early motorsport action was Athol Graham's speed of 344 mph in his home built 'City of Salt Lake' record car in December 1959, powered by an 3,000 bhp aircraft engine equipped with friction-reducing STP (its driver cocooned under a canopy grafted from a P-51 Mustang fighter plane!).

In early 1961, a new chapter in the high performance history of STP began as a gifted engineer and fanatic of fast cars and motor racing, Andy Granatelli, assumed control of the company.

Born in Chicago, in1923, Granatelli was a great businessman, blessed with the ability to excite people to buy STP products, as the company and product range developed.

Under Granatelli's guidance, the STP company continued to grow, becoming a virtual household name and occupy a position of dominance in just seven years. In that time it expanded from seven to 2,000 employees as sales soared, and the STP share of the USA market grew from 7% to 85%.

Granatelli continued to built STP's motorsport heritage, and the famous blue, red and white STP logo has been seen on countless winning cars over four decades, from Bonneville Salt Flats, through a record seven NASCAR Winston Cup Series titles with Richard Petty, to victory at the famous Indianapolis 500.

And STP almost certainly holds another record too… As part of the imaginative and hugely successful promotion of the brand, in just one year no less than 100 million STP decals were given away across the USA. This massive promotion helped to establish STP as one of the most recognised and famous brand names in the world, and the outright global leader of fuel additives and engine care products.
For STP product safety data sheets, please click here.