Marathon Stations Should Bring Back The “Marathon Man” Logo

The old Marathon gas stations used to have a pretty slick logo: a scantily-clad marathon runner with the phrase “best in the long run”. He was depicted by the road in a sign with a red circle – almost like the Target logo – that greeted customers.

The current Marathon signs are a snooze. Sorry, but they are. Bring the runner back.

In 1887 Marathon Oil started out as The Ohio Oil Company in Lima, Ohio. John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company bought it two years later; his company broke up in 1911 but the name continued, In 1930, The Ohio Oil Company bought the Transcontinental Oil Company and the name "Marathon". The name proved successful with the public so in 1962, the company name was changed to the Marathon Oil Company.

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Backtracking a little, when Rockefeller lost the Standard company, he formed an ‘offshoot’ called the Standard Oil Company (Ohio). With the company branding itself as “Sohio”, many states – including Michigan - that surrounded Ohio had gas stations that featured the ‘Sohio’ brand.

I remember driving by Sohio stations and wondering “what the heck is SOHIO?”

Although owned by Standard, it operated as 'Sohio' in Ohio but thanks to legalities, the name 'Standard' couldn’t be used in other states. Some states used the name ‘Boron’ which I’m sure many of you recall.

There it is in a nutshell. The complete backstory is so long and complicated, I’m leaving it as is. Meantime, scroll down a ways to see images of ta couple of old old Marathon stations, along with Sohio and maybe a Boron...