Valpomag

Meaney ’85 Launches Career From Valpo Senior Project

John Meaney ’85 with his 2007 Z06 Corvette.

As an engineering student at Valparaiso University, John Meaney ’85 had little idea that his senior project would define his professional career.

An admitted “motor head” with a penchant for speed, Meaney worked with Valpo engineering professors Gil Lehmann ’55 and Rodney Bohlmann ’70 to create an electronic fuel injection system for his ’69 Camaro as his senior project.

The device was crude but also revolutionary, and it got Meaney focused on building an even sleeker, more reliable model. By the time he founded “Digital Fuel Injection,” his first company, Meaney had perfected his work.

“The technology for electronic fuel injection already existed, but we (DFI) were the first ones to make a reliable, dependable, low-cost system for the masses that could interface with the stock ignition systems,” he says. “Our unit was programmable in ‘real time,’ which made it kind of revolutionary because you could get instant feedback from the engine.”

This initial success gave Meaney the background to create a series of ever-improved fuel injection units that ultimately earned him the title “Godfather of modern aftermarket EFI systems” and the respect of high performance car enthusiasts everywhere.

He currently is one of the primary owners of “Big Stuff 3,” a company focused on the design, manufacture, and marketing of state-of-the-art electronic engine and power train controllers for the performance aftermarket. In other words, people who love speed and power love Meaney’s products. And, in fact, Meaney uses his own products when he races his Competition Eliminator Dodge Avenger, Stock Eliminator ’95 Camaro, or ’07 ZO6 Corvette.

He credits Valpo with laying a foundation for his success. “All the professors at VU were great human beings who would go the extra mile to help out a student,” he says. “Valpo taught me the critical key to learning—how to understand concepts rather than simply memorize formulas.”