SuperAmerica convenience stores began in the 1960s in St. Paul by Northwestern Refining of St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Ashland Petroleum purchased Northwestern Refining and the SuperAmerica chain in 1970. Much like what Marathon did with Speedway, Ashland used the SuperAmerica brand for its high-volume locations with convenience stores, expanding from Minnesota to its home territory around Ashland, Kentucky (which included Ohio and West Virginia).

During commercials of the 1960s and 1970s, the company's jingle was "Su-per-amer-i-ca, Fill'er up, tank or truck." An extended version with SuperAmerica's cartoon mascot featured the lyrics, "SuperAmericaMan, Great Gas, Good Goods, Ev'ry Night and Day, SuperAmericaMan, When You Run Out, Run In to SA".

The SuperAmerica brand is used in Minnesota as well as at one location in Kentucky, one company-owned and one franchised location in South Dakota, as well as many SuperAmerica stores in western Wisconsin.

Marathon sold SuperAmerica to Northern Tier Energy, a newly formed company backed by the private equity firms ACON Investments and TPG Capital, in February 2011.