When you talk about Richard Petty, the first thing that comes to mind is the seven championship wins, a NASCAR legacy, and multiple records etched to his name. In a true sense, he was a pioneer in uplifting stock car racing to the mainstream level. However, his biggest contribution to the sport stretches far beyond his accolades.

He is the mastermind behind NASCAR’s current economic model, which allowed NASCAR to become a sporting giant. His association with STP and Granatelli ushered in the era of national sponsorship for the first time in the history of NASCAR. However, the deal with STP was everything but a smooth ride. The details of the negotiation process were brought to light by the King himself.

Here’s how the iconic Blue-Red #43 car came into existence

In 1971, NASCAR was under a period of transition, and the teams were finding it hard to survive financially. Even three-time champion Petty and his team, Petty Enterprises, weren’t able to tackle this crisis. They had lost out on their OEM partners; Ford took an exit, while Chrysler was leaving the team too. NASCAR took steps to help the teams survive; they shortened the race schedule and increased the purse, but it wasn’t enough.

Interestingly, Andy Granatelli, the CEO of STP at the time, kept a close eye on NASCAR after his success in IndyCar. He identified Petty Enterprises as a perfect avenue to start a new partnership, one that would change stock car racing forever. In 1972, Richard Petty and his entourage headed to Chicago at the STP headquarters to crack the deal, as his team made its way to Riverside International Raceway in California to prepare for the first race of the season.

Taking a stroll back in memory lane, Petty recalled how the deal came about with STP. “So we went in and was going to sit down and talk to Granatelli about sponsorship. We sat there for a little while and everything kind of worked out, and I think he was going to pay us $250,000 or something, and you know we never had a sponsor, so. You might’ve had a local dealership or something on the side of your car, but nothing that went nationwide. That was like money just falling out of sky.” He said this while speaking to NASCAR.

However, there was one issue. Granatelli wanted the #43 car to be painted in day-glow red. But Petty wasn’t going to change his team’s brand identity overnight. Ultimately, the two parties brokered a deal and decided to go half red and half blue, colors that represent the NASCAR icon to this date. “He offered me $50,000 more if we painted the thing red, and I said no… We stayed overnight and talked to Granatelli and his PR people. So we sat down and said, Okay, we’ll do half and half,” he added.

Petty was advised to be wary of Andy Granatelli and his ingenious plans that could alter his racing legacy. But, instead, this partnership created history and paved the way for how teams would operate across the three series in NASCAR.

Petty’s friends at IndyCar had warned him about working with Granatelli

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Now, Andy Granatelli looked like an intimidating personality that resembled a character from Martin Scorsese’s films. He was a Texas native and was a gearhead like most folks in NASCAR. However, before his partnership with Petty Enterprises, he achieved success at the IndyCar level. The likes of Joe Leonard and Parnelli Jones drove the bright red STP-sponsored race cars. But his victory with Mario Andretti at the Indy 500 in 1969 is still a part of motorsports folklore.

But Granatelli knew about the potential of NASCAR and didn’t think twice about forging ties with the superstar driver, Richard Petty. Although Petty was warned about the downside of working with Granatelli, he placed his trust in him. “We had talked to some of the IndyCar people that had worked with him and been around him, and they said he’ll come in and screw your whole situation up because he’ll start telling you what to do and how to do it. And I said no, he won’t, and he never did.” Petty explained.

If anything, it was STP and Granatelli who were the big winners. After their association with Petty, their products were not only marketed in the U.S. and Mexico but also across 100 countries around the globe.