Josh Hart stood alongside his Top Fuel dragster in the Bristol as he stared over to Manufacturer’s Row at the pristine 1963 Corvette Stingray in the Burnyzz display. If the classic Chevrolet looked familiar, it’s because it belonged to Hart.
The moment provided a bit of reflection for Hart.
Hart readily admits there was a time when just living day-to-day was a struggle. He admits he was a dreamer but more of a realist. His dreams were far more expensive than his paltry bank account balance.
“Well, the office that I still have now today, I was sitting on the other side of that desk and if [the person who was going to buy it] wouldn’t have bought my ’67 Mustang, I didn’t know how I was going to make it,” Hart said.
Just as the Corvette was a reminder, Hart ended up buying that office building and now sits on the other side of the desk. The memories of going door-to-door doing auto detail work with wife Brittanie made this weekend’s Burnyzz manufacturer midway debut all the sweeter. It was definitely a defferent kind of weekend at Byrnyzz than he was accustomed to.
There are two ways to reach the top of the mountain. One can simply wait for a ride. Or one can begin the arduous task of climbing. Those who know the soft-spoken automobile restorer/customizer know exactly which pathway he took.
“I actually went door-to-door just cleaning people’s cars in their driveways, [I had] zero money,” Hart explained. “We went door-to-door handing out flyers, and then my wife, Brittany, took that part over and I started doing superchargers in a little one-bay shop that we’ve now created a hundred thousand square feet under one roof. We call it the Burnyzz Block. And it truly is hot rod heaven. Anything you can imagine car related, it all happens on that city block.”
The Harts grew the Burnyzz brand from those humble door-to-door origins to one of the largest resto hot rod brands. Last August, Burnyzz expanded into the national market.
“We’re super excited about it, but we’ve got about a $50 million expansion planned, looking into markets like Pennsylvania, Texas, maybe even Utah,” Hart explained. “Super excited. So no better place to get that ball rolling with some momentum than NHRA. And we brought out a couple of our Restomods so that Corvette looks like it’s stock, but it’s actually completely not. It could be driven from Florida to California. And if you want all original, then we built a 1967 numbers matching Camaro also on display.”
