SuperAmerica is becoming Speedway, end of a name that originated at a St. Paul gas station

SuperAmerica gas and convenience stores, referred to as SA by generations of Minnesotans looking to fuel up their vehicles and purchase snacks and sodas, will be rebranded under the Speedway name.

The name change, announced on the SuperAmerica website Friday, comes after Marathon Petroleum's $23 billion purchase of SuperAmerica owner Andeavor was completed on Oct. 1.

SuperAmerica rewards cardholders are being asked to transfer their card balances at www.speedway.com. SuperAmerica gift cards will no longer be accepted but values can be refunded by calling the Speedway customer service number at 800-428-4016. There is no deadline on when values need to be refunded, according to customer service representatives.

The SuperAmerica brand name has been around since the first store opened in 1960 at 7th street and Wall in downtown St. Paul. Elmer Erickson purchased that location in 1960 as an outlet for the products of the Northwestern Refining refinery located in St. Paul Park.

The name — which has survived several corporate owners over the last decade — is now on 285 stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, 170 of them franchised. According the SuperAmerica website, the stores and refinery have more than 2,000 employees.

Marathon Petroleum's corporate predecessor, Marathon Oil, co-owned or owned the refinery and SuperAmerica from 1997 to 2010. Tesoro, now known as Andeavor, bought it in 2017 as part of its $4.1 billion acquisition of El Paso, Texas-based Western Refining.

The latest purchase of Andeavor was primarily about building a national network of 16 refineries, but the company has a substantial retail distribution network.

Marathon Petroleum owns about 5,600 independently owned retail outlets across 20 states. Marathon's subsidiary Speedway owns and operates the nation's second-largest convenience-store chain, with approximately 2,740 convenience stores in 21 states.

Andeavor's retail system included more than 3,300 retail stations in 18 states operating under nine different brand names including ARCO, Exxon, Mobil, Conoco, Tesoro, Giant, USA Gasoline, Shell and SuperAmerica.

Marathon Petroleum CEO Gary Heminger told Fox Business in May that the company would take the Speedway platform "coast to coast" and convert Andeavor's multiple brands under one name. The transformation began on Oct. 1, after the sale was completed, the company said in an e-mail.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926