When STP president Andy Granatelli appeared in the garage area at the now defunct Texas World Speedway for the final Cup race of the 1971 season, he made it a point to stop by the crowded stall of car No. 43 and offer congratulations to Richard Petty and his team for the great season they were enjoying. Petty had collected twenty wins to that point and was poised to win his third championship.

Granatelli's presence in the garage was customary as STP was the primary sponsor of Fred Lorenzen's red No. 99 Plymouth that year. The high profile company president wanted to align his product with a winning driver and his visit to Texas in December of 1971 would later prove to be the beginning of one of the most successful relationships in the history of the sport.

A few short weeks after Petty won the Texas race and claimed the championship, Granatelli called Richard in Level Cross, North Carolina and invited him to Chicago to talk about sponsorship for the 1972 season. Petty calmly told Granatelli he would stop by on his way to the 1972 season opener at Riverside, California in January.

Richard, brother Maurice and cousin Dale Inman caught a plane to Chicago a couple of days before practice was scheduled to begin in Riverside. Granatelli made it clear from the beginning he wanted the STP logo on the Petty Enterprises machine and Petty was equally as interested in the offer.

All parties quickly agreed to each others requests until one major issue came to the surface. With Granatelli negotiating for a red car and Petty insisting the car remain blue, the sponsorship discussions went on into the late hours of the night. With Petty pressed for time to reach California, Granatelli made a last minute compromise that would create one of the most well known color schemes in all of racing.

Petty agreed to add STP red to his familiar Petty blue No. 43 but it would have to wait. With the car en route to Riverside there was no chance the crew would have enough time to oblige the request by race time.

The STP logos were placed on the Petty blue car in time for the California race and five days after announcing the sponsorship agreement, Petty and Grantelli would celebrate their new association in victory lane.

Richard Petty and STP were a winning combination from the start and would go on to win the 1972 Cup Series championship, beginning one of the longest running sponsor-driver relationships in NASCAR.