Dennis Burnevik doesn’t expect to enjoy many spare moments in the near future. The chassis builder from Minneapolis, Minn., has branched out on his own after 21 years of working alongside legendary chassis builder Don Ness.

Burnevik is taking over a portion of the chassis business once held by Ness, as the famed chassis builder enters semi-retirement.

“For the meantime I have,” Burnevik confirmed when asked about the move. “I have my own new business and Don is still helping me out. I’ll be finishing up a couple of his cars with my name badge on there.”

Ness Heads Into Semi-Retirement; Former Ness Employee Assumes Portion of Business …

Dennis Burnevik doesn’t expect to enjoy many spare moments in the near future. The chassis builder from Minneapolis, Minn., has branched out on his own after 21 years of working alongside legendary chassis builder Don Ness.

Burnevik is taking over a portion of the chassis business once held by Ness, as the famed chassis builder enters semi-retirement.

“For the meantime I have,” Burnevik confirmed when asked about the move. “I have my own new business and Don is still helping me out. I’ll be finishing up a couple of his cars with my name badge on there.”

One of those cars, the anxiously awaited 2010 Mustang, is destined for Jim Cunningham to be driven by Erica Enders.

“I have a couple of other cars in the works but nothing I can talk about publicly,” Burnevik said. “I’m hoping to pick up another few pro cars in the next few months.”

Burnevik started his business with every intention of developing a niche of his own. Recent developments involving Ness altered his game plan.

“I never intended to jump into his business like I did,” Burnevik added. “It just worked out that way. Don is ready to take a break and I’m ready to jump into it. It worked out really well for both of us.”

A portion of Don Ness Racecraft business will phase into Burnevik’s Sinned Customs over the course of the next few months. While the name lends itself to a vision of custom choppers, Burnevik explained the company’s name is derived from nothing more than his first name spelled in reverse.

Burnevik told CompetitionPlus.com that his team has worked feverishly towards finishing the Cunningham 2010 Mustang and expects it to be ready for the paint shop by the end of the week.

If Burnevik takes special pride in the 2010 Mustang it’s because he and Ness played a pivotal role in the body design.

“We’ve done all of the composite bodies together,” Burnevik said of the bodies being produced by Roush. “We co-designed almost everything together. We do really work together good most of the time.”

For Burnevik one of the finest products he has designed may be the new Mustangs. At first glance, the naked eye won’t notice a dramatic change from the old to new. Side-by-side, the two will differ as much as night and day.

“One of the first things I did was to cut it down and make a three-quarter scale from the 2008 model,” Burnevik said. “That’s what grabbed the attention of Ford. That’s one of the reasons Ford chose Don to design the 2010. The 2010 is a completely new car. There is nothing similar to the old car on it. It’s a brand new machine.”

According to Ness, the new bodies are about 10 percent smaller than those currently in competition but well within the NHRA template measurements.

“You can compare that to one of the older versions of the Mustang and you can build the new one inside of it,” Burnevik admitted. “It’s going to be very competitive with the GM cars out there.”

 

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