Pilot Corp.
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- This article is about the petroleum company. For other uses, see Pilot.
Pilot Corporation (Pilot) is a petroleum corporation in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Pilot also owns many convenience stores and truck stop style travel centers around the country.
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[edit] History
Pilot Corporation was founded by James Haslam Jr. in 1958 in Gate City, Virginia when he purchased an existing gasoline station. By 1965, Pilot owned 12 stations, and was selling 5 million gallons of fuel yearly. Pilot built its first convenience store in 1976, and converted the rest of its locations into convenience stores. In 1981, Pilot built its first travel center, and has focused on that aspect of its business ever since.
1988 saw Pilot begin its concentration on expanding its travel center network in a nationwide presence. Also in 1988, Pilot opened its first travel center with a fast food restaurant inside.
In 1998, Pilot sponsored Gary Bradberry and Triad Motorsports in NASCAR. This venture was shortlived, however, ending in 1999.
On September 1, 2001, Pilot and Marathon formed Pilot Travel Centers, LLC.
[edit] Boycott
In October of 2006 it was revealed that former Pilot Oil President, Bill Haslam, the son of founder James Haslam, Jr and mayor of Knoxville, TN had joined together with a large group of mayors to 1) advocate for a near ban on all gun ownership across the country and 2) to use their vast resources to file civil lawsuits against local gun dealers across the country in order to force them out of business. Following repeated calls to Bill Haslam to explain himself, civil right activists have launched a large scale boycot of Pilot Oil Travel Centers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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