If you’ll allow us to digress a little bit here, we’d like to provide some background on this talented chassis fabricator. Plueger got his start as a metal fitter in Southern California’s once-bustling aerospace industry. He also worked part time building Gassers for Chuck Finders, putting in some 80 hours a week between the two jobs. Then, he went to work for Don Long on a full-time basis, until Finders encouraged Steve to take over his chassis shop.

Following early racing partnerships with Gary Densham, and later, "Lil John" Lombardo, the Plueger & Gyger Funny Car became one of the most feared Southern California independent entries. At the time, his drivers included Jerry Glenn, Dale Pulde, and Dave Condit. From 1976 to ’79, Steve served as Crew Chief to upstart John Force. As Steve tells the story, "Force called me one day and said, my uncle (Gene Beaver, of Beaver and Condit fame) says you’re the only guy who can make my junk work." Plueger patched things up and got Force on track. Continuing, Steve said, "Before I tuned John’s car, the quickest he’d ever run was 6.89 on fire!"

Here’s some more interesting Plueger trivia. Steve helped design, fabricate, and convert an empty Dorsey trailer and Kenworth Aerodyne tractor that Force bought with the support of Don Steves Chevrolet. Plueger’s input and labor went into the entire hydraulic system, work area, and lounge that Force used for over 10 years. It quickly became the talk of the pits and soon, all the top teams had trailers built just like it.

Steve Plueger is an engaging kind of guy who could keep your interest for days telling stories about all the things he’s done in the sport of drag racing. As we mentioned earlier, he’s managed to field several successful cars of his own over the years, always using more ingenuity than budget. During the late ‘90s, he surfaced with yet another home-built creation. That was the first car to employ the single, giant fuel pump designed by Plueger and hardcore parts manufacturer, Steve Leach, of RCD Engineering fame. Plueger mentioned, "I can’t see spending $7,000 for a Waterman pump when we can build ours for $500." Al Segrini drove that car and also brought along some sponsor money. Its Brad "Fat Heads" were another unusual thing about the car, as they were commonly used on Top Alcohol cars at the time. Steve mentioned, "I figured if these heads can make a car run good at 10,000 rpm on alcohol, and run well at 6,000 rpm on injected nitro, they should run fine at 8,000 rpm on a blown nitro combination." That’s Plueger logic for you.

A while back, Steve had a chassis on the jig for Cruz Pedregon. Before taking delivery, Cruz’s then new teammate, brother Tony, talked him into using McKinney cars. When Plueger learned that Cruz decided to cancel the chassis he’d ordered, Steve decided to keep it for himself and shake things up in Funny Car. Once again, Plueger enlisted the assistance of Steve Leach. Aside from the duos proclivity for developing interesting new parts, they share the same passion for accepting the challenge of doing things a bit differently than everybody else does.

The Plueger/Leach "Mono-Monster Pump" differs from conventional fuel pumps, in that it features a single set of gears with oil-cooled roller bearings, unlike others used today where needle bearings are cooled with nitromethane. However, even more unusual was the use of a single MSD magneto and Plueger’s proprietary mechanical clutch, fuel, and timing management system, which was totally different from the pneumatic timers we’ve become used to seeing at the top level of the sport. So, to recount the factors that gave this car its interesting mystique – Plueger, Pulde, Leach, and an unusual assortment of top-quality parts that created an impressive mechanical challenge. What’s not to like?

So, you’re saying what’s the problem running such a unique management system? Well, there’s absolutely nobody to compare notes with in order to verify whether you’re on the right track or not, with regards to the tune-up. In light of NHRA’s decision to lessen the nitro percentage, most felt the use of a single mag would only prevent the car from running big speed, as the additional voltage is needed to burn the immense volumes of fuel these cars consume. However, as one of the most respected personalities in the pits, Plueger is in frequent conversation with Austin Coil, tuner extraordinaire and chief braintrust at John Force Racing.

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Steve told us, "Coil and Prock (Jimmie) were both interested in what we were trying to do. They both agreed that if I ran a standard pump, they could give me a (fuel) combination that would get us started and we could tune it from there." After some early trial and error towards the end of last season, Plueger realized his combination would need more than four passes at each race in order to perfect it. Though Coil and Prock were both intrigued by the challenge, Plueger recanted one conversation where Coil said, "This thing can definitely work, but you’ll probably have to run 50 passes in testing to figure out what it needs." Obviously, that was out of the question, given the lack of available budget.

As things turned out, those 50 passes wouldn’t be necessary. At the outset of the 2005 season, NHRA mandated the use of a new MSD rev limiter, which rendered Plueger’s mechanical management system obsolete. The system would not be compatible with the MSD setup, as electronic components cannot talk to mechanical components – there has to be an electrical interface. Steve had two choices. Sell an obsolete race car with a system that nobody could use, or pony up almost $20,000 to retrofit it with today’s "normal" type of fuel, clutch, and timing management system, along with the requisite second magneto. Never a quitter, Plueger chose the latter. From the get-go, he promised Pulde that he’d put a second mag on it if the original combination didn’t prove itself, so in essence, he still kept his word.

Steve’s "Band of Gypsies" thrashed into the wee hours for weeks on end to engineer and install this new setup, prior to the 2005 season-opening Winternationals. In fact, they were still thrashing once the car was parked on the hallowed pavement of the Los Angeles County Fairplex. What you need to understand here is the fact that this car had never even been fired with its new electronic-over-hydraulic management and ignition system onboard before it was parked in Pomona. A member of the crew told us they had run almost 85 gallons of nitromethane through the engine just firing the car and trying to sort out the clutch system! The color of disgust was painted on every crew member’s face, but these guys are made of determination, just like Plueger and Leach.

After missing the first session in Pomona, their second chance was washed out by a full day of rain, so Saturday’s final two attempts put them in a precarious position. A 5.76-second pass was the best they could get out of it. Phoenix provided another learning experience, but by that time Steve was having thoughts about dissolving the team, as other problems began to surface. There was some dissention among the troops, which demonstrates that it’s difficult to keep a diverse bunch of talented individuals singing from the same song sheet. Though they were learning with each pass, there is a fine line between applying too much power and not enough. Either way, you’re either going to smoke the tires or shake the tires while learning what the car wants. Plueger said, "It sounds simple to take fuel away, but our pump puts out more [volume] than Force’s, so we have different issues to deal with."

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Don’t forget, Steve ran successfully in a time when he could tow less than an hour from home to race at Lions, Irwindale, or OCIR. Today’s prospect of leaving his home and shop behind on Tuesday in order to get everything set up at each race had already gotten old. Besides running Plueger Race Cars that fabricates Funny Car chassis, Steve operates P&P Fabrication, which manufactures special oil pumps for Pro Mods, Top Alcohol, and nitro cars, and business is brisk. He also produces the breather tube adapters you see on the valve covers of most every nitro and alcohol car that’s racing today. Over the years, he’s built well over 200 of the most successful Funny Cars on the planet, and to this day, his platform design has been copied time and time again.

So, while Plueger’s latest foray in the Fuel Coupe wars has been a bit short of spectacular, at least you realize that he did it out of sheer determination, the thrill of competition, and the challenge of doing things a bit differently than the rest of the pack. Also know that his fellow competitors are fully aware of his capabilities, they saw his car (and driver) as a very real threat, and they still possess the same amount of respect for him – possibly more. As we bring you this story, Steve is seriously reviewing his options. There’s a chance you’ll see this car competing at Seattle and Sonoma later this year. However, we’re hoping the Band of Gypsies is not disbanded any time soon, because these guys can turn the corner at any given time. What’s more, there are legions of fans out there who are excited to see Dale Pulde back in the seat. Please stay tuned. We’ll be happy to provide updates on the status of Plueger Racing as soon as possible.

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