By Paul Post
A husband-and-wife business couple has a whole new revenue stream created by simply responding to customers who can’t find the product they need elsewhere.
Halfmoon Sunoco introduced the new line of race fuels in April that power everything from classic vintage automobiles to snowmobiles, ATVs and motocross bikes.
“This was one of those amazing opportunities to show our customers, ‘Hey, we hear you. Let’s figure out if we can do this and how’,” said Marilyn Lupo-Sehgal. “We’re really close with a lot of our customers so whenever there’s a void for some type of service they come to us. Being that we’re Sunoco, we try our best to see how we can utilize our connections and provide what they want.”
She and her husband, Ankit, purchased the store, across from Halfmoon Diner at the corner of Route 9 and Grooms Road, in 2015.
Previously, Sunoco race fuels were sold at a station in Malta. But when Stewart’s Shops took the site over, it stopped offering this type of fuel, creating a void between Queensbury and Albany.
It took the Sehgals about a year to obtain required approvals, including a rigorous review by town officials, and retrofit of their store to offer race fuels, which they buy from a Connecticut supplier and sell in five-gallon containers priced from $90 to $125.
They offer several blends. The most expensive is 116 octane that’s needed for extreme performance such as drag racing and pulling trucks.
By selling in containers, rather than at the pump, customers can take fuel to wherever they plan to use a high-performance vehicle rather than bringing the vehicle to the store.
“It required totally resurveying the store to make sure there’s still handicap access and enough square footage to sell race fuels along with propane and gasoline,” Marilyn said. “We also had to get a building permit. Even though we just put a cage in front of the store (where race fuel is kept), you also have to have this huge six-foot cylinder block in front to protect it as a barrier. So there’s a lot of licenses and permits that had to be acquired. Through a lot of hard work we were able to get them.”
Albany-Saratoga Speedway is only a few miles away on Route 9, but many race car owners get their fuel directly at the track, she said.
Most demand for Sunoco Race Fuels came from other types of customers.
“So many different types of vehicles need this specialty fuel,” Marilyn said. “There’s some really big vintage car owners in our area.”
On Saturday, June 3, Saratoga Automobile Museum is hosting a special Muscle Cars at the Museum and Collector Car Forum along with a Cadilllac Buick Lawn Show.
“We plan to be there, also,” she said.
The Sehgals have had opportunities to buy other service stations in the area, but have decided to simply keep reinvesting and improving the one they own now. In early May, work began on putting in a brand-new parking lot.
“Once that’s done we’re in talks for having one or two electric charging stations put in because it is important,” Marilyn said. “Sunoco is such a big company, it isn’t blind to the fact that green cars are coming. It’s just a matter knowing when and how to adjust. They have a huge team that’s studying and watching this.”
“Equally important, there’s still a lot of cars out there that use gasoline,” she said. “With spring coming, classic car owners are getting ready to bring them out. We wanted to make sure we had everything out there for the sports cars, motocross and vintage cars.”