Editing Gulf Oil (section)

===Marketing and promotions===
In the late 1930s, Gulf's aviation manager, Major Alford J. Williams, had the [[Grumman|Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation]] construct two modified biplanes, cleaned-up versions of the [[Grumman F3F]] Navy fighter, for promotional use by the company. Wearing Gulf Oil company colors and logos, the Grumman G-22 "Gulfhawk II", registered ''NR1050'', was delivered in December 1936, and in 1938 Maj. Williams flew it on a tour of Europe. A second scavenger pump and five drain lines were added to the engine installation that allowed the aircraft to be flown inverted for up to thirty minutes. This aircraft is now preserved in the [[National Air and Space Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] A second airplane, the Grumman G-32 "Gulfhawk III", registered ''NC1051'', was delivered on May 6, 1938. Impressed by the [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Force]] in November 1942 for use as a VIP transport and designated a UC-103, it crashed in the [[Everglades|southern Florida Everglades]] in early 1943.<ref>Editors, "''The Corpulent Long Islanders''", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, UK, March 1976, Volume 10, Number 3, pages 131–133.</ref>

Gulf Oil was the primary sponsor for [[NBC News]] special events coverage in the 1960s, notably for coverage of the U.S. [[Lists of space programs|space program]]. It also became a sponsor for a program called NBC News Special Report. The logo even appeared on the front cross-shaped desk of every special event and coverage broadcast by the network and it was notably used by [[Chet Huntley]] and [[David Brinkley]] or the other correspondents since the [[1964 Republican National Convention]]. The company used the connection to its advantage by offering giveaway or promotional items at its stations, including sticker sheets of space mission logos, a paper punch-out [[Apollo Lunar Module|lunar module]] [[Scale model|model kit]], and a book titled "We Came in Peace," containing pictures of the [[Apollo 11]] Moon landing. Gulf was also a major sponsor of ''[[Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color]]'', which also aired on NBC. Disney magazines and activity books were often given away with a gas fill-up. Gulf was also noted for its "Tourgide" road maps.

One particularly memorable Gulf advertisement carried by NBC during their coverage of the Apollo missions showed aerial and onboard views of the ''Universe Ireland'' with [[Tommy Makem]] and the [[Clancy Brothers]] singing "[[Bringin' Home the Oil]]" – a tribute to the opening of Gulf's operations in [[Bantry Bay]].<ref>YouTube Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEDhf5Zjv6A "Bringin' home the oil" with scene possibly shot at Whiddy, created as a tribute to the original commercial]</ref>

[[File:1971 Le Mans Porsche 917LH Derek Bell Jo Siffert Hotel de France.jpg|thumb|right|Gulf Oil–sponsored [[Porsche 917]] LH raced by [[Derek Bell (racing driver)|Derek Bell]] & [[Jo Siffert]] at the [[1971 24 Hours of Le Mans]], parked outside the [[Hotel de France (Le Mans / La Chartre sur le Loir)|Hotel de France]]]]
In 1937, Gulf Oil became involved in racing when they purchased the racing car project of Ira Vail and Harry Miller and brought the project into the Gulf Research and Development Company.<ref><The Miller Dynasty, Mark L. Dees, 1981 Hippodrome Publishing Co.</ref> This produced innovative new cars that were the designs of Miller which became the first mid-engined cars to race in the [[Indianapolis 500]]. The cars also featured four-wheel-drive which was very novel at the time, disc brakes and a supercharged 6-cylinder engine. The only notable restriction was that the engine needed to run on standard Gulf pump fuel. Four of the cars were built with 3-liter engines and one was entered in the 1938 "500" but did not qualify as much testing was needed to get the car to the point of being ready for competition. Three of the Gulf-Miller cars were entered in 1939 with one, driven by George Bailey making the race with a second-row qualifying position. Another of the cars was crashed in practice and the third didn't attempt qualifying. The Bailey car dropped out of the race with a broken valve. In 1940, a fatal practice accident caused the team to withdraw. In 1941, two of the Gulf cars qualified but one was destroyed in a race morning garage fire and the other dropped out of the race early. Gulf sold the car in 1946 to Preston Tucker who ran it as the "Tucker Torpedo Special" that year in its last race appearance.

Gulf Oil was most synonymous for its association with [[auto racing]], as it famously sponsored the [[John Wyer|John Wyer Automotive]] team in the 1960s and early '70s. The signature light blue and orange color scheme associated with its [[Ford GT40]] and [[Porsche 917]] is one of the most famous corporate [[List of international auto racing colours|racing colors]] and has been replicated by other racing teams sponsored by Gulf. Much of its popularity is attributed to the fact that in the 1971 film ''[[Le Mans (film)|Le Mans]]'', [[Steve McQueen]]'s character, ''Michael Delaney'', drives for the Gulf team. As a result of McQueen's increasing popularity following his death and the increasing popularity of the [[TAG Heuer Monaco|Heuer Monaco]] which he wore in the film, [[TAG Heuer]] released a limited edition of the watch with the Gulf logo and trademark color scheme.<ref>[http://www.wristdreams.com/archives/2007/02/tag_heuers_limi.html Wrist Dreams: Tag Heuer's Limited Edition Monaco Gulf<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102213909/http://www.wristdreams.com/archives/2007/02/tag_heuers_limi.html |date=November 2, 2007 }}</ref> In the same era, Gulf Oil also sponsored [[McLaren|Team McLaren]] during the [[Bruce McLaren]] days, which used a papaya orange color scheme with Gulf blue for lettering.

From 1963 to 1980, Gulf Oil had a formal agreement with [[Holiday Inn]], the world's largest lodging chain, for which Holiday Inn's in the U.S. and Canada would accept Gulf credit cards for food and lodging. In return, Gulf placed service stations on the premises of many Holiday Inn properties along major U.S. highways to provide one-stop availability for fuel, auto service, food and lodging. Many older Holiday Inns still have those original Gulf stations on their properties, some in operation and some closed, but few operate today as Gulf stations.

Gulf No-Nox fuel was promoted with a bucking horse leaving an imprint of two horseshoes. Several promotions centered on the two horseshoes. In 1966, bright orange 3-D plastic self-adhesive horseshoes for car bumpers were given away. Another popular giveaway was during the 1968 election season, gold horseshoe lapel pins featuring either a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] donkey or a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] elephant.