Thanks for all the different blog suggestions.

There are a few stories circulating as to how Skunk2 got its name each with varying amounts of fact and fiction.

For the record, Skunk2 Racing is a registered trademark / brand of Group-A Autosports, Inc. Prior to being "Skunk2" 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 legitmacy 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 tradenames 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 Lockheeds claim to the name on the basis of the following. Eventhough the name was generic, Lockheed had enough resources to be able to drain our small company. Furthermore, if we successfully contested the name and made "Skunkworks" generic, we were 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....stay tuned for the second half!