IROC-Z Resurrection: Rebirth and Re-Branding
NOTE: This excerpt is taken from a docu-series “The Road to IROC…” in it, founder, Mark DeLisle, covers the entirety of the humble beginnings of 6LE Designs, its meteoric rise and resurrection of the name IROC-Z and becoming IROC Motorsports, the fall of the business (due to thing from larger companies like Volkswagen and GM trying to take the name to increased demand causing manufacturing issues) and final resurrection of the business, brand, vehicles and races…
The Road to IROC…
2005-2012
From $100-$225,000
In 2005, I (Mark DeLisle) moved from Orlando, FL to Los Angeles, CA to pursue acting. I brought my passion for muscle cars with me. Early on I would pay my bills by working on other people’s cars (doing modifications they had seen, done by myself, on my car) and occasionally developing new parts for the cars in the process.
One of these parts was simply a flat piece of ABS plastic that protruded from the bumper called a splitter. I made a design out of cardboard, sold my motorcycle project to spend $100 to buy a finished product, I sold that for $200, bought two more and kept going.
From 2007-2009, I turned selling one splitter into also selling other people’s “one product” (I would say this was the beginnings of the at home business trend) like Gauge Overlays, as well as other small things I made myself like grills and tail light mods. By 2008, we were making over 100 unique products for multiple vehicles and by 2009 I registered my business to attend SEMA for the first time and began to try and build my passion into a real business. This led us to selling around $80,000 in gross sales (profit margin a solid 30-40%) in 2009.
Throughout the years of 2010-2013, in an effort to expand, we branched out into fiberglass. We released multiple new products through Chinese manufacturing via Extreme Dimensions starting with an OEM roof replacement the community needed. It sold extremely well and funded other projects. The front bumper we released at Super Chevy Show 2010 won two first place awards. We also begin using SEMA each year to connect with other manufacturers and secure wholesale accounts to sell their products (wheels, brakes, suspension, etc). We closed 2010 with over $100k in sales.
We continued to make new designs through China, but weren’t happy with the hit or miss product quality from China. Still, we released the Targa top at The F-Body Gathering in Atlanta in May, 2011. We drove the car all the way from Los Angeles to prove our products and get attention (we won the Long Hauler Award and Best in Show). Here, the GM head of the car’s development, Scott Settlemire, would praise our bumper design in front of the crowds as the first aftermarket part he actually liked on “his” car.
We come back from the November 2011 SEMA show with a new manufacturer, RK Sport. and start a U.S. Private Label for manufacturing fiberglass and carbon fiber in California. At first it was just the OEM roof (same one we started China with) but eventually it was our full fiberglass and carbon fiber line up and they were our sole manufacturer. We closed 2011 with around $150k in sales
By 2012, our fiberglass and carbon fiber parts were selling well. Quality was great, lead times were decent at 4-6 weeks (best in the industry at the time). We had profit without problems, so we expanded into other vehicles such as the GTO, G8, Corvette and other GM vehicles.
If we had manufacturers making something for a Camaro or Firebird, now we had them making the same things for lots of other vehicles as well. By the end of 2012, we’ve branched out as far as trying to design furniture and underwear. We closed 2012 with around $225k in sales.
2013-2017
$290,000- $1,000,000
In 2013, we received an unexpected tax bill from 2012. We didn’t know this at the time, but our tax representative missed one line edit and it cost us $40k in taxes (they forgot to list our cost of goods for PayPal orders). This mistake was a mishandling in multiple areas due to my business partner starting a new family and job and eventually quitting in May.
I took on a new business partner, with a background in banking, and pushed forward.
In June of 2013, I was also starting a new family and decided to focus the business on streamlining (not dependent on me to ship almost 50% of the products) and growth. All manufacturing (fiberglass, carbon fiber, metal and plastics) had good cost, quality, time frames and shipping. We closed 2013 with around $290k in sales.
I now had a business partner that was local and shared 50% of the workload. This freed me up to grow the company. I advertised, attended and sponsored motor events, became a paying sponsor/advertiser on multiple online forums and continued to develop new products for all the vehicles we now made parts for.
By SEMA 2014, I felt like we had fully tapped our market, so I discussed with industry mentors what to do next, RK Sport recommended truck parts. We purchased a 2007-11 Model Silverado, in late 2014, and began making parts for it starting with a hood. We closed 2014 with around $400k in sales.
Early in 2015, I lost my metal and plastic manufacturer and by the end of 2015 I lost my gauge overlay manufacturer as well. I turned my focus to fiberglass.
At SEMA 2015 we displayed a vehicle in the show for the first time, the 6LE Designs “ZL71”. It was our answer to the FORD Raptor. A wide-bodied Silverado ZL1 (Offroad) with performance upgrades with Camaro ZL1 in its styling DNA…
2015 SEMA ZL71
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQOUpOqggzA
Our Facebook following alone went from around 8k to 18k in one week and we maintained and grew it from there.
CHEVROLET also debuted the 2016 Camaro at the 2015 SEMA Show and it was the star of that show. I spent the week staring at it and envisioning a full line of parts for it.
We doubled our sales but not in the way we expected. We didn’t sell many truck parts but we were selling 2-3 times the amount of our normal parts, making me realize we had not even come close to fully tapping the market yet. We closed 2015 with around $520k in sales.
By 2016, I wanted to change the direction of the company and start focusing on new Camaro parts. My partner and I split over creative differences in July of 2016.) I used personal credit cards to fund new fiberglass products.
By November 2016, I had released a new G8 hood and also a full line of 2016 Camaro parts. Stripe and Vinyl Kits, Gauge Overlays, Splitter Kits, Spoiler and a new Hood.
These were all on display at SEMA 2016 in the Cragar booth on their Camaro as well as the Camaro in the Vision Wheels booth. We closed out 2016 with $750,000 in sales.
Going into 2017, I wanted to make a Camaro wide body design that I had envisioned since 2010. I also realized, through a loophole, the name “IROC-Z” had never actually been registered. In July, I commissioned a leading automotive designer to take on the project and I hired a lawyer.
We registered the mark and upon his guidance released it at an International Tradeshow to solidify it globally. We presented the car at SEMA 2017 and I can honestly say we stole the show from Chevrolet that year (their booth workers and head designer for Camaro told us this personally)…
SEMA 2017 IROC-Z
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=HlG5DZF46xY&t=336s
We sold over $1,000,000 in gross sales that year.
2018-2022
$100,000,000- $80,000
In 2018, because we had created a value in the name “IROC-Z” again, we were facing rising legal costs as Volkswagen and General Motors would both legally challenge us for the mark.
We re-focused on licensing our mark to generate more income as well as solidify our holding of the mark. We sold off old China molds to the same manufacturer so we could fund a shift into wholesaling giving all our business to RK Sport’s manufacturing. We changed our name from 6LE Designs to IROC Motorsports to solidify mark usage.
Then we began wholesaling our product to companies like MAGG Performance, Phastek, RK Sport, BMC Customs, Next Level Performance, Hawk’s Motorsports, Eckler’s, Rick’s Camaro and many more.
Factory Reproductions licensed a new IROC-Z wheel design from us. Glasskinz licensed the name to make louvers for the new Camaro. Microsoft and Forza licensed the name for their video games. We licensed the name to Heatwave bringing the iconic name back to eyewear and apparel.
Branching out, we made public efforts to bring back the IROC Series with celebrity endorsements at SEMA 2018 and registering of the name “IROC Wars” as well as displaying four concept vehicles that year including one in our own booth. We were featured that year by SEMA’s “Battle of the Builders”….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCxz3qFsIpw
In 2018 and 2019, we continued to push the brand at SEMA and on social media leading us to landing a segment with Hoonigan…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re9zw2hAeng&t=417s
We had diversified and kept up with the new financial demands, and in doing so were able to successfully beat Volkswagen and General Motors and retain our rights to the mark… but our manufacturing couldn’t keep up due to its own internal issues, and our sales had dropped closing 2019 out with only around $200k in gross sales after refunds.
In 2020, our manufacturer would eventually completely go out of business as the world went into the pandemic. We spent the better parts of 2018-2022 trying to find a solid fiberglass and carbon fiber manufacturer (including an attempt to make the parts ourselves in Sylmar, CA) to no avail as that part of the business ground to a halt, closing 2020 out with only around $120k in gross sales after refunds.
We shifted focus again to local resources, specifically selling splitters and tail light lenses. These products sold well and we used these funds to continue to pursue manufacturing options. SEMA was not taking place (due to the pandemic) so we started focusing on Instagram and Facebook content for exposure.
By 2021, during the pandemic, we were still functioning based off a handful of products we could make and suppliers that were local and we still had control over our supply chain. We bought a 1991 Camaro and started developing similar parts for that generation Camaro as well and started making YouTube content to get exposure. Closing 2021 out with only around $160k in gross sales.
With this small increase in sales, we reached out to a manufacturer in Mexico who had been copying our parts and others and selling them in Mexico. We wanted to test the quality of his product and had smaller products shipped to us and larger ones driven across the border. The quality was good, we communicated some tweaks, and he easily integrated them to make the products great.
In 2022, we let the community know we were offering this line of parts again and immediately had a lot of sales. We set up a distribution center in Texas to receive parts driven in from Mexico and then ship them to the customers.
Unfortunately, this did not work out as the company we hired over sold their qualifications and nothing shipped. Some customers would drive to Texas to get their parts while others demanded refunds putting us into debt.
I had sold everything I could sell, my credit was maxed out and our boutique product line could not pay the bills of the market dominator I had tried to create again, especially during a pandemic.
Customers, that refused to take refunds and wanted to wait because they, “Knew I would figure it out.” would spend more money with us, buying any parts we could make, to try and help us out… but the cart was in front of the horse. By the end of 2022, we had around $80k in gross sales (if you factor in refunds we carried into the next year).
2022-2024
$80,000- $200,000
Around July of 2022, to help put the horse in front of the cart, my wife Claudia DeLisle opened a new business IROC Motorsports LLC to try and restart our product line with her credit.
In 2023, we focused on what was working to keep money coming in, which was tail lights, while we worked through growing the Mexico manufacturing into a stable, shippable and receivable resource. Our biggest obstacle was navigating international shipping. Overcoming its high potential for damaged shipments, especially after learning they were not insurable.
We fixed this by working with our manufacturer in Mexico and sharing with him the techniques we learned over the decades to build better products and packaging. He was extremely reciprocal in meeting our needs, exceeding them with new products of his own for us to sell and finding local packagers that could meet our demands.
We suffered through a lot of lost product due to this learning curve in the beginning, but we overcame it and built a solid line of manufacturing that has the quickest turn around time we’ve ever had, 5-10 business days, the highest quality product we’ve ever had and solid and reliable shipping with less than a 1% damage or return rate.
By this time Arturo, our head of manufacturing in Mexico City, had also helped us not only bring back all of our previous fiberglass products (from scratch, we didn’t even have any molds, for some parts we had to track down old customers and buy the part back to remake it) he had also freely made any new products that we could facilitate (provide the physical materials needed to make it, we were not charged for making the molds due to his faith in our business).
We now not only had all of our old line back, we finished a lot of ideas we were never able to complete before (we built a wide body kit the market has wanted for 23 years) as well. Realizing all of our competition had gone out of business, we started bringing back their designs as well.
Mecham Designs, for example, a famous name from the 1970s-2000s that was one of our main competition, had gone out of business due to lack of quality manufacturing. We partnered to bring all of their parts back, under our brand but with their name officially licensed. Helping us, helping the original owner and helping the community get the parts they desired. By the end of 2023, we were back to $100k in sales
In 2024, we had built the business with her credit and began to build her credit with the business due to our volume and pay offs. We would repeat this cycle and get approval for larger loans. We would pay those off and keep going as we began closing our gap.
We were filling a need with tail light lenses, but early on we foresaw the growing need for full tail light housings. We attempted multiple forms of manufacturing from silicon casting to fiberglass, injection molding to 3D printing.
After years of trial and error, we had by now landed on 3D printing and spent a year getting through it’s learning curves (materials, heat resistance, bonding compatibility, etc) and by December 2024 we were finally sending finished product out the door. We had given a community that had no options at all for tail lights, more options than any other car on the planet as they were customizable and we even offered Neo-Pixel versions…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By-2ren2kFg&t=2s
For years we had also been focusing on new products that would be marketable to any vehicle. We kept releasing new tail light designs, as the manufacturing process we personally developed makes that easy to do, to fund the growth and prototyping of Holo-Gram Wheels. A new product that allowed you to change the look of your wheel from an app on your phone, in real life.
What we learned in product development, we turned into multiple different products. Partnering with Weelfans we began creating wheel fans for all vehicles, Holo-Weels for all vehicles and applying the Holo-Weel technology to Holo-Props. A hood prop with an app controlled hologram to display at car shows for ANY vehicle. We displayed this product at SEMA 2024…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCG7COIuD8&t=14s
We kept pushing our growth forward until PayPal felt our sales had grown too quickly too fast and set a 30% reserve (they hold 30% of all sales for 90 days) due to our growth. When this happened, we had just started our second PayPal loan where the loan is paid back by taking 30% out of our daily sales until it is paid back. This left us with only 37% to try and fulfill the order.
Pushing forward we used any available credit resource while we waited for the money to be released. In doing so, we also have paid down the PayPal loan much more quickly. By the end of 2024 we had grown to around $200k in gross sales.
2024-2025
$200,000-?
From July of 2024 to July of 2025 we had $200k in gross sales with $143k through PayPal but also, to avoid the reserve, we took in $50k through Zelle and other direct payment methods (CashApp, Venmo)
During the first quarter of 2025 we were on track to do $300k in gross sales (we had gotten back to $30k a month sales), but the reserve kept us from filling orders and started the chain of refunds.
It is now 2025, and we have created a solid foundation to really relaunch the business and products. We just needed to consolidate debt to so we could do it sooner rather than later.
2025- The Partnership
We partnered with owners of CMJ Racing to elevate the business’ operations. Now we can…
Get orders out quicker than anyone in our markets (we have begun mass molded tail light housings to replace the 3D printing and eliminate wait times)
Regain the trust of our community
Stop hemorrhaging profit through unfulfilled orders and refunds
Re-Organize Our Business (have better book keeping, website re-works, etc)
Reconnect with our customers via personal phone calls and e-mails
Reconnect with our community by now having the opportunity to be more active
Refocus on being active in person at shows and events and show our product in person
Assuming this will all lead to better sales, in 2026, we will focus profits on customer experience as we also plan to…
Focus heavily on BRANDED merch through advertising and giveaways
Develop nice company swag for customers (emblems, QR Codes, etc)
Instagram and Facebook Ads
LS1Tech and other Forums Sponsorship
More Online Content such as Youtube and Tik Tok
Expand our LICENSING wherever we can
Sponsor local shows and help the community however we can.