Andy Granatelli Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Granatelli, Andy, 1923-2013
label: Donor
content: Granatelli, Vincent, 1944-2022
label: Creator
content: Grancor Automotive Specialists
label: Creator
content: Hurricane Hot Rod Association
label: Creator
content: Studebaker Corporation
label: Names
content: Indianapolis Speedway Race
label: Names
content: Soldier Field (Chicago)
label: Names
content: Studebaker Corporation. STP Division
label: Names
content: Afrons, Arthur Eugene "Art", 1926-2007
label: Names
content: Afrons, Walter Charles "Walt", 1916-2013
label: Names
content: Agajanian, Joshua C. James , 1913-1984
label: Names
content: Agnew, Spiro T., 1918-1996
label: Actor
content: Anderson, Eddie "Rochester", 1905-1977
label: Names
content: Andretti, Mario, 1940-
label: Names
content: Banks, Henry, 1913-1994
label: Names
content: Bishop, Joey
label: Names
content: Bridges, Lloyd
label: Names
content: Carson, Johnny, 1925-2005
label: Names
content: Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
label: Names
content: Chapman, Anthony Colin Bruce , 1928-1982
label: Names
content: Clark, Jim, 1936-1968
label: Names
content: Cole, Hal, 1912-1970
label: Names
content: Cooper, Earl, 1886-1965
label: Names
content: Cooper, Leroy Gordan, 1927-2004
label: Names
content: DePaolo, Peter, 1898-1980
label: Actor
content: DeVito, Danny
label: Names
content: Derr, Ernest Virgil "Ernie" , 1921-
label: Actor
content: Douglas, Kirk, 1916-2020
label: Names
content: Egbert, Sherwood, 1920-1965
label: Names
content: Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
label: Names
content: Foyt, A. J., 1935-
label: Names
content: Gable, Clark, 1901-1960
label: Names
content: Garagiola, Joe
label: Actor
content: Goulet, Robert, 1933-2007
label: Names
content: Grissom, Virgil I.
label: Names
content: Guerrero, Roberto, 1958-
label: Names
content: Hartke, Vance, 1919-2003
label: Names
content: Hill, Graham, 1929-1975
label: Names
content: Holland, Willard, 1907-1984
label: Names
content: Hurtubise, Jim, 1932-1989
label: Names
content: Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 1932-2009
label: Names
content: Kladis, Danny, 1917-2009
label: Names
content: LaMotta, Jake
label: Names
content: Lasorda, Tommy
label: Names
content: Leno, Jay (comedian)
label: Names
content: Leonard, Joe, 1932-2017
label: Names
content: Lorenzen, Fred, 1934-
label: Names
content: Luyendyk, Arie
label: Names
content: Malone, Art, 1936-2013
label: Names
content: Marcenac, Jean
label: Names
content: Marciano, Rocky
label: Names
content: Mays, Rex Houston, 1913-1949
label: Names
content: McCain, John
label: Names
content: McElreath, Jimmy, 1928-2017
label: Names
content: Miller, Chet, 1902-1953
label: Names
content: Murphy, Paula, 1928-
label: Names
content: Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
label: Names
content: Palin, Sarah, 1964-
label: Names
content: Parsons, Johnnie, 1918-1984
label: Names
content: Petty, Richard, 1937-
label: Names
content: Pickens, T. Boone (Thomas Boone)
label: Names
content: Pollard, Artle Lee, 1927-1973
label: Names
content: Quayle, Dan, 1947-
label: Names
content: Rathman, Royal Richard "Jim", 1928-2011
label: Names
content: Reagan, Ronald
label: Names
content: Robbins, Marty
label: Names
content: Russo, Paul, 1914-1976
label: Names
content: Tremulis, Alex S.
label: Names
content: Unser, Bobby
label: Names
content: Weld, Greg, 1944-2008
label: Names
content: Williams, Carl, 1930-1973
topic: label: Topic
content: Automobile driving
label: Topic
content: Automobile industry and trade
label: Topic
content: Automobile industry executives
label: Topic
content: Automobiles
label: Topic
content: Automobiles -- Design and construction
label: Topic
content: Automobiles, Racing
label: Topic
content: Engines, automobile
label: Topic
content: Hot rods
label: Topic
content: Publications
label: Topic
content: Slides
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Vincent J. Granatelli, 2017.
creator: label: Creator
content: Granatelli, Andy, 1923-2013
label: Donor
content: Granatelli, Vincent, 1944-2022
label: Creator
content: Grancor Automotive Specialists
label: Creator
content: Hurricane Hot Rod Association
label: Creator
content: Studebaker Corporation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Andy Granatelli Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents Granatelli's lifelong involvement with automobiles, from his youth through his career as an auto industry executive, and as a racing car owner, designer and promoter.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Andy Granatelli (1923-2013) was an automobile racing promoter, a race car engine designer and an automotive innovator.  Two of his cars, a 1967 turbine engine race car and the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner, are in National Museum of American History's Division of Work & Industry collection.  More than any other racing figure, Granatelli bridged the realms of garage tinkerers and professional motorsports, and he stimulated public interest in auto racing on a national level.  His STP Corporation became a high-profile sponsor of Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR race cars, with Granatelli appearing in ads and commercials.  His larger-than-life personality and flair for the dramatic made him an American cultural phenomenon.  His career is well summed up in the profile written for his 2003 induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Racer, entrepreneur, engineer, promoter, business executive. This is how one begins to describe the career of Andy Granatelli.  But the title Mister 500 is the one that befits him most, for it describes a lifelong dream to conquer the famous 500-mile race in Indianapolis.

It was a preposterous dream for the scrappy kid growing up in the slums of Chicago, whose mother had died when he was twelve, and two years later, at the age of fourteen, dropped out of school to help his father feed the family.  Andy Granatelli began his quest for Indy 500 fame at the age of 20 in 1943, when he and his brother pooled their meager, hard-earned money and purchased a Texaco gas station on the north side of Chicago, which he called Andy's Super Service.  Andy, always the promoter, needed a gimmick to set himself apart from other service stations.  His gimmick?  Granatelli initiated the first pit stop service station, utilizing four or five mechanics to work on a car at one time.

Customers appreciated the true super service experience and would often wait in line for this unique treatment.  With this unique service and Andy's P.T. Barnum style it was no wonder that the station was prosperous, and just two years later, in 1945, he formed the Granatelli Corporation, known as Grancor Automotive Specialists.  As the head of Grancor, Andy Granatelli pioneered the concept of mass merchandising performance products and power and speed equipment to a generation of Americans who were discovering the joys of hot rodding.  

Andy quickly learned that if you give the customer what he needs, you can make a living; give him what he wants, and you can make a fortune!  Granatelli's racing career began in 1946, when he built the first rocket-powered car to race on an oval track.  That same year, he took his first car to the Indianapolis 500--a pre-war Harry Miller--designed Ford. 

When Andy Granatelli wasn't burning up tracks, he was tearing up the business world.  In 1958, Andy and his brother Joe purchased Paxton Products, a failing engineering firm that made superchargers.  With Andy at the helm, Paxton Products became profitable in seven months.  In 1961, Andy sold Paxton Products to Studebaker Corporation and stayed on as Paxton's CEO.  Two years later, Studebaker management wanted Granatelli to work his magic on an under-performing division called Chemical Compounds Corporation.  Chemical Compounds had only one, little known product . . . STP Oil Treatment.  With virtually no advertising budget, Andy created a four-pronged approach to turn the company around: a recognizable corporate logo (the STP oval), a product (oil treatment), a product spokesman (himself) and a reason for existence (racing).  The STP logo became one of the best recognized in history. STP could be found in virtually every venue of speed: on land, on the water or in the air.  Andy Granatelli once said that in the 1960s, virtually every kid in America had an STP sticker on his bedroom door, his notebook or his lunchbox, and he was probably right!

Back at Indianapolis, Granatelli entered a revolutionary race car of his own design - one with a turbine engine in 1967 and 1968.  Even though the car failed to finish both years due to mechanical failure, the cars demonstrated superior speed and performance.  At the end of the 1968 season, the U.S. Auto Club revised engine specifications, effectively outlawing Granatelli's turbine car.  Undeterred, Granatelli returned to Indy the following year with a conventional car and proceeded to win his first Indianapolis 500 with Mario Andretti at the wheel.  Four years later, in 1973, Andy won his second and last Indy 500 with a car driven by Gordon Johncock.  Andy Granatelli's childhood dream of conquering Indy was fulfilled, not once, but twice.

Source

Andy Granatelli Biography, Automotive Hall of Fame (last accessed January 29, 2020 https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/andy-granatelli/)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 66 Cubic feet (108 boxes, 16 map-folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1932-2008
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1403
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Advertisements
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Design drawings
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Financial records
label: Type
content: Legal records
label: Type
content: Minutes
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Speeches
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into nine series.


Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1946-2006

 
Series 2: Granatelli Corporation, 1943-1975	


Series 3: Studebaker Corporation, 1935-1991	

 
Series 4: United States Auto Club (USAC)

 
Series 5: Novi Engine, 1949-1971	

 
Series 6: Product Literature, 1949-1972


Series 7: Racing Programs, Publications, and Ephermera,	1940s-2007

 
 
Series 8: Photographs, 1932-2008	

 
Series 9: Audiovisual Materials, 1960-2001
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2020-2021. An arrangement scheme for the papers was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order. Original file folder titles were retained in most cases.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Design drawings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Financial records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Legal records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Minutes -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Speeches
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents Granatelli's lifelong involvement with automobiles, from his youth through his career as an auto industry executive, and as a racing car owner, designer and promoter. The collection consists primarily of files, photographs, scrapbooks, and drawings. Some of the earliest files relate to Grancor, a company founded by Granatelli and his two brothers in 1945, which customized cars for clients. Other things contained in the files include meeting minutes, articles of association, business and financial records, legal records and profit and loss statements. Also included are papers relating to an organization he started called the Hurricane Hot Rod Association.

A large portion of the files relate to Granatelli's term as President of STP, a division of the Studebaker Corporation, from 1961-1974. These files detail the internal workings of the company during this period, and include papers relating to such things as strategic planning, sales, marketing, advertising and competitors' products. Additionally, this portion contains STP's Board of Directors' minutes, documents on policies and procedures, papers documenting advertising campaigns, comparative sales figures, sales manuals, and Granatelli's business correspondence. The largest part of the files relate to the Indianapolis 500 race. There are detailed files on the drivers and race teams he assembled for the annual race, but these files also include design drawings, specifications, test data, lap logs, performance statistics, and reports documenting the implementation of design changes. The scrapbooks in the collection contain clippings, biographical materials, and other documents relating to auto racing in America and especially the Indianapolis 500. Finally, the collection contains a large number of photographs covering all aspects of Granatelli's career.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

Warshaw Collection of Business American, Series: Automobile Industry (NMAH.AC.0060)

Winton-Anderson Scrapbook Collection (NMAH.AC.0122)

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 1: Transportation (NMAH.AC.0300)

Evan Rangeloff Collection of Punchboards and Liggett & Myers Tobacco Sales Materials (NMAH.AC.0716)

Materials at the National Museum of American History, Division of Work and Industry

The Divison holds artifacts related to STP and the STP-Paxton Turbo Car. Included are key chains, trophies, STP stickers, TuneUp Masters stickers, belt buckle, and patch. See accession 2017.3043. 

STP-Paxton Turbocar, 1967. See accession 1978.0418. 

Materials at the National Museum of American History, Division of Cultural and Community Life 

Division holds artifacts related to Andy Grantelli's racing career such as helmets, goggles, trophies, and coveralls and vests with the STP logo. See accession 2017.0092.