VP Racing Fuels – from Bexar County garage laboratory to global provider
From small acorns, mighty oaks grow. It’s the American dream. It is also the story of how a small San Antonio startup company has evolved into a globally recognized and respected supplier to the racing industry. Best known by those who work in the world of motorsports, VP has earned a deserved reputation primarily for developing and providing the highest quality race fuels that are used for a wide range of competition vehicles, namely race cars, motorcycles, motorboats, aircraft and snowmobiles. Basically, anything with an engine being revved high and stressed to the limit. But outside of this inner circle, VP is a well kept secret. In fact, one of the biggest problems that VP faced as they started to expand their diverse product line to the general public was that few knew or recognized the value of this brand.
The short version of the VP story is that it was founded by Steve Burns in Bexar County, Texas in the 1970s as he turned his parents’ garage into a laboratory, teaching himself the chemistry and physics related to high-output racing fuels. Burns improved his racing fuel, starting with “C12”, and VP was incorporated in 1975 and started distributing first-class race fuels across the U.S., and today they have 80-different fuels. The ensuing decades saw this product gain wide acceptance in motorsports. Participants increasingly turned to VP for a product that was a known quality, and more importantly, provided them with a competitive advantage. NHRA’S adoption of VP as an approved fuel in the 1970s and their official fuel in the 1990s further underscores this trust in their product.
In 2016, Alan Cerwick, previously a Valero Energy Corporation executive, completed the purchase of VP Fuels and began to increase the brand’s offerings into more products for wider distribution. A central figure in this expansion is Bruce Hendel, who is currently the Senior Vice President of VP Racing Fuels sales globally, and has been with VP since 1993. Hendel started by serving as VP’S West Coast Regional Manager and then taking on the Consumer Products Division in 2013. “The general public was not aware of the successes of VP Racing Fuels and that has presented us with some challenges in getting our consumer products on the shelves of the big box retailers. Autozone was our first breakthrough, and since then we have a presence in most locations, including
Advanced Auto Parts, ACE Hardware, Grainger, HEB, Home Depot, Lowes, NAPA, O’reilly’s, Tractor Supply, True Value, Walmart, and many others.”
Currently, VP Racing Fuels has about 300 employees, with five company-owned and operated race fuel distribution points in Texas, Tennessee, Delaware and Indiana, plus a regional office in Southern California, and an international center in Berlin. VP Racing Fuels has over 2,000 dealers worldwide, with products being sold and used in the U.S., Europe, Australia/new Zealand, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and others.
“We are still growing and always looking at developing new innovative products we can add to our offering, and ways we can improve on existing products. We have our own in-house lab and full-time chemists”, Hendel said. “We have a commercial/ industrial side to our business which has been focused on a couple of key projects, the biggest one being unleaded aviation fuel.
VP has successfully passed the first testing phase, where others have failed. It’s a big project and there isn’t an easy solution, but our chemists and R&D staff have solved it. We also have a Uav/drone fuel program which continues to grow.”
“VP wants to make the public aware that we serve so much more than just the racing fuel market,” Hendel continued. “We have consumer fuels, gas and diesel additives and lubricants that serve the public well. Our Outdoor Power Equipment fuel, both two-cycle and four-cycle, is one that will last two years in the tank, five years in the can, and will save you costly repairs due to fuel-related issues created by today’s pump gas. Our consumer products are built to the same quality and performance standards as our championship winning race fuels.”
VP Racing Fuels has professional relationships and provides fuel to a number of major sanctioning organizations, starting with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Weathertech Championship, where they produce the new R80 renewable fuel, which is the spec fuel for the GTP class, and VP is the spec fuel for all IMSA classes with their 100 E10 and E20 fuels being used in all the other IMSA vehicles. In addition, VP supplies Motoamerica, SCORE International Off-road Race, AMA Supercross, Ferrari Challenge, Porsche GTE Cup Challenge USA, World of Outlaws Late Models and Sprint Cars, USAC Silver Crown and Quarter-midgets, AMA Snow Bike series, Outlaw Truck & Tractor Pulling, Championship Offroad Series, World Karting Association, SNORE (Southern Nevada Offroad Racing Association), and many more.
When asked for four major successes of VP Racing Fuels over the past 10-years, Bruce Hendel carefully listed them. “First, VP expanding into consumer products; second, our Vp-branded retail gasoline stations; third, the growth of International distribution; and fourth, our lubricants. We launched the racing oils seven-years ago, but two-years ago we received a full endorsement from Joe Gibbs Racing for our Pro Grade 20w50 Synthetic oil and it is now the recommended oil for all their engines requiring that viscosity oil. And we currently have about 400 Vp-branded gasoline stations across the country with aggressive plans to expand that, with a goal of 3,000 such stations.”
Whether it is land, sea or air, VP Racing Fuels has established itself as a preeminent provider to the competitors in all of these varied disciplines. Nothing succeeds like success.