In 1926 Sinclair leaped ahead of most of its competitors with H-C, the industry's original high octane premium gasoline for motor cars. The octane race exploded on the industry in 1924 with general distribution of ethyl, an anti-knock additive. Unable to secure the ethyl franchise, Sinclair produced a 72-octane auto fuel, better than anything then marketed. Lindbergh's flight to Paris the following year was on 73-octane gasoline. H-C sold at a premium of only two cents, while ethyl added to regular gasoline cost from four to seven cents extra per gallon.

With H-C, Sinclair's sales crossed the billion gallon mark in 1926. Gasoline alone totaled 683 million gallons sold, up 10 percent in one year. This was the third largest gallonage among American companies, six percent of the total market. Of this, three-fifths were sold by Sinclair's own service stations or its dealers.

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