Haters are gonna hate....bet you 8f he had stuck a / in the place of the 383 you would be singing a different tune....
Guess everyone has a different idea of hot rodding...to me it is using what you got, what you can afford. Speed is irrelevant. If it were simply about going faster then why does anyone bother with a small block when it is fairly simple to build a 600" Wedge? Folks confuse things I think....hot rodoing is about often about using what you got....building a performance car is about going faster ...