Quality and craftsmanship has been Dave Hsu, owner of Skunk2's motto since day one when he first opened his shop doors to the general public in the summer of 1994. Hsu's motivation to get involved in the import market culminated in its early heydays from witnessing and participating in various circuit and touring car venues around the world. In 1994 SkunkWorks, otherwise known as Group-A Autosports and eventually re-badged as Skunk2 Racing, began its legacy in Hayward, California, as a performance development and distribution company for high-performance aftermarket parts. Within a few years, the once unknown company by the name of SkunkWorks propelled themselves into the limelight and has become one of the premier tuning shops for import drag and circuit track vehicles to present date.
2NR: Give us your background in the automotive industry.
DH: Well it's funny you should ask that. I first began my career as an architect which a lot of people may not know about. After receiving my architectural degree, I worked a number of years in my profession but as time progressed I wasn't satisfied with my career choice. Don't get me wrong, I liked the concepts of architecture in general but the profession was just horrible. Fed up with shady bosses and a dead end job, I decided to explore other options which ultimately led me to cars and the automotive industry which I have always had a passion for throughout my entire life. People often ask me if I can relate any of my architectural background into the automotive aspects of engineering.
2NR: I would say yes there is a relation between the two backgrounds correct?DH: That's correct. The design background and the engineering background you get from architecture helped in my automotive career. Actually it is relevant to what we do even though it's automotive related. The basic principles of design and engineering hold true wither it's a building or a car. After I graduated college I decided on working overseas for an architectural company. During my stay I was able to witness up close and personal many of the works of Group-A touring cars such as the Motion 100 Mugen Civic and Mild 7 EF-9. These cars were equipped with various items such as magnesium suspension components, AP front and rear brakes and adjustable sway bars. All the things that enthusiasts even now still don't understand when in actuality they were playing around with and tuning the same products on race cars years back. That's when I decided to start up a parts business and because the upper echelon was Civics and Integras back then, the company became Group-A racing.
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