quench vs no quench?
Man, I think there's a lot of independent variables that are being ignored or minimized for this conversation.
HP is more valuable than torque for racing. That high torque engine will be useful for a truck. Hence diesels over gassers.
There are all sorts of limitations that affect your ability to build HP and make it useful, mostly centering around budget. Dedicated heads up race car engines really should not be considered in the same frame as street or bracket engines. S/F....Ken M
E6M hit the nail on the head. If ya'll think TQ is so wonderful, ya should be running soot pukers. But you don't. Every one SHOULD understand that when you are covering a KNOWN distance (for Jerry's kids I will spell it out: 660', 1000', 1320', 1/4 mile oval, 1/2 mile etc) it is HORSEPOWER that gets it done. That's why you have a transmission, and a ring and pinion (you could have the R&P that is 1:1 if you didn't need the HELP) and TQ converters for the gang that can't use a pop up toaster and need a slush box to get you there.
Now I know (since I'm doing this for decades) that many guys have switched to the J-U-N-K powerglide and they went faster. If you can't tune your chassis, chances are, less 1st gear will help your car. But, remember when Pro Stock was allowed to use 5 gears instead of 4? Think about who was the LAST team to switch? That's right, it was the Dodges. Why were they last? Because they didn't have the latest bore spacing block and couldn't make HORSEPOWER with the rest of the class. 5 gears would have slowed them down. They were still using smaller bores and longer strokes that anyone. They tried to make me believe (unsuccessfully for dang sure) that their flatter, longer torque curve would carry the day. It didn't.
So, to sum it up once more, if you want to go fast, figure out how much HP you need to get there and the TQ will take care of itself.
If you want to try and impress your buddies with your long stroke, low RPM soot maker, go ahead. To keep arguing makes you look stupid, as many who are way more smarter than me, have said exactly what I am saying to you now. You don't need to turn small block 8000 RPM's or crap like that.
It's all just silly. Sounds like some of you built torque monsters that don't ET like it should, and now you need to publicly defend your bad decisions.
