Skunk2 Racing History - Part 1

Skunk2 is a US aftermarket parts manufacturer who R&D and produces racing parts for Honda/Acura cars (Major) and other manufaturers (Minor). They became famous after the debut of their 9 sec Honda Integra DC2 (all-motor)

Here we will be looking at this history of the Skunk2 brand name..

How Skunk2 got it's name?
There are a few stories circulating as to how Skunk2 got its name, each with varying amounts of fact and fiction. We thought this would be a good place to set the record straight and inform people about how it really came about.

For the record, Skunk2 Racing is a registered trademark / brand of Group-A Autosports, Inc. Prior to being "Skunk2 Racing" the brand was actually called "Skunkworks Racing Project" in 1998. By definition "Skunkworks" is a secret laboratory where cutting edge aircraft are developed at the highest level of speed and efficiency. Group-A adapted the name to include development of race cars and components. Because of successful racing efforts and product sales the "Skunkworks" brand started to gain popularity in 1998. As a result of this increase in popularity, Group-A caught the attention of Lockheed Martin. Little did Group-A know that the "Skunkworks" name was a registered mark of Lockheed. Lockheed notified Group-A to cease and desist from using the name "Skunkworks".

At that time Group-A consulted with it's attorneys as to the legitimacy of Lockheed's claim. Lockheed had indeed registered the "Skunkworks" trademark since the 50's, but had failed to actively prevent it's trademark from becoming generic. Generally speaking, trademarks become generic when they begin appearing in common use dictionaries. Terms such as escalator and elevator were at one time trademarks that have since become generic. Companies that own the names XEROX and KLEENEX actively lobby to keep their trade names out of the dictionary. At the time Lockheed threatened suit against Group-A, the name "Skunkworks" could be found in 16 common use dictionaries thus making it generic.

After extensive legal research, Group-A decided not to contest Lockheed's claim to the name on the basis of the following. Even though the name was generic, Lockheed had enough resources to be able to drain Group-A's finances. Furthermore, if Group-A successfully contested the name and made "Skunkworks" generic, Group-A was opening the doors to anyone else who wanted to use the name "Skunkworks" in the automotive performance space. Clearly holding onto the "Skunkworks" name was a lose-lose proposition. So Group-A decided to abandon the "Skunkworks" name.

This is only half of the story...

9 sec Skunk2 Integra DC2 (All-motor) - Project Beta v.1 at sunset

Picture of our 2nd shop in Hayward, California circa 1998.

Before we started the Skunkworks product line, Group-A was a distributor of performance products.

Here's a view of our current facility. Circa 2004.