# Why do so many people put Sunoco stickers on their cars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914 "2008-02-16T21:29:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/1 "2008-02-16T21:29:14Z")
Gotta admit that I’m a little confused here. I see these stickers all the time on the road. Are people really that passionate about their gasoline choice and, if so, why don’t I ever see stickers from other gas stations? ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/2 "2008-02-16T22:06:13Z")
Never seen them, just a few hours away from you in Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/3 "2008-02-16T22:12:05Z")
If you read the rest of the sticker, you’ll see why. See [here](http://www.vintagedepotdirect.com/media/AU15.jpg). For those of you who steadfastly refuse to click on links because it’s just too hard to do it, Sunoco is the official fuel of NASCAR, and the people who put the stickers on their cars are uber-fans. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/4 "2008-02-16T23:09:28Z")
Ah, I see. Thanks **Airman**. Guess I never noticed the NASCAR logo or somehow mentally blocked it out because it’s so ubiquitous. ETA: It really is amazing how effective those damned race cars are at advertising things. ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/5 "2008-02-17T10:01:09Z")
It was a promotional thing as well. There was suppose to be some Sunoco people on the look out for the stickers and if they spot your car with one you could be chosen to win some money. I think the promotion is over but the stickers remain. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/6 "2008-02-17T13:33:09Z")
The bumper sticker promotion gets lot’s of hopeful players every time a place tries it. It was more of a last millennium phase of advertising. Radio stations used this promotional avenue often. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/7 "2008-02-17T14:11:19Z")
So was the contest angle behind the 70s (or was it in the 80s?) fad for putting an orange Union 76 ball on a car antenna? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/8 "2008-02-17T15:05:20Z")
[QUOTE=Student Driver] So was the contest angle behind the 70s (or was it in the 80s?) fad for putting an orange Union 76 ball on a car antenna? [/QUOTE] I don’t remember when they did that, but I remember the balls on antennas. It was from before most antennas were part of the windshield. I would have to guess the 70’s as more likely, because more people put a lot of crap on the cars back then. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/9 "2008-02-17T15:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=Student Driver] So was the contest angle behind the 70s (or was it in the 80s?) fad for putting an orange Union 76 ball on a car antenna? [/QUOTE] I was just about to ask that…I haven’t seen that in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/10 "2008-02-17T15:49:11Z")
I just realized people might not know that Union 76 was a common gas station at the time and has nothing to do with the Bicentennial. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/11 "2008-02-17T15:59:23Z")
\*\* Why do so many people put Sunoco stickers on their ears?\*\* Fuelish question… (puts hands over head, runs) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/12 "2008-02-17T17:41:39Z")
[QUOTE=Student Driver] So was the contest angle behind the 70s (or was it in the 80s?) fad for putting an orange Union 76 ball on a car antenna? [/QUOTE] Union 76 was the official fuel of NASCAR before Sunoco took over the contract. What they get for that is a logo sticker on every fuel can on every pit stop, a sticker on the fender of every race car, and the right to have cute young women hand out stickers to every fan walking into a NASCAR race People put the antenna balls on in hopes of finding their cars in a big parking lot. That is, it narrowed down the search to the 68 orange balls in the lot. 🆒🆒🆒🆒🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/13 "2008-02-17T18:31:04Z")
The orange balls had another purpose in Wisconsin. During the winter the snow gets very high, and intersections can have hard to see approaching traffic. It was a recommendation during these conditions to put a high visibility ball or flag on the car antenna. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-put-sunoco-stickers-on-their-cars/437914/14 "2008-02-17T23:35:06Z")
We had Union 76 balls way back in the 60s. One of my earliest memories is one of those balls on Mom’s '65 Mustang, for some reason.