Actually Kevin, the two 440s that made most of the passes in the Challenger were perfect examples of how conservative I am.

The first one was a stock block (filled) with stock caps (main studs) and rods (good bolts), TRW 11.5 pistons, ported 915s, a Hughes hydraulic 555/570 lift cam, with an M1 and a dominator. It's best pass was 10.74-123 or so at 2950, sometimes in the heat of the summer it wouldn't run fast enough for SST. It really liked the bottle though, and so did I. 9.60's were so easy with my cheater plate...then Mike Gray sold me his O'Malley competition dominator to standard flange adapter with two sets of spray bars, one front to back, the other side to side.
He should have been ashamed of himself, it was like selling pure heroin to an addict. I blew up that poor 440 in two passes when I turned on the second system, but it went 9.23-142!

The second 440 started out as a straight up copy of an engine Chuck Senatore built in a magazine, I even ordered the Ross pistons and the Ultradyne flat tappet cam from Muscle Motors. The path got changed slightly because I picked up a set of aluminum main caps and BME rods, only 81 passes on each for dirt cheap. I also got a break on a set of NIB Edelbrock RPM heads which my machinist cleaned up the ports slightly, certainly not a port job (these are the heads currently on the 508 in the Barnyard Viper). That engine had the same Isky ductile rockers, intake and carb off the old 440. It lasted 800 passes, ran a best or 9.96 (usually 10.20s) and took me into the eights on both systems, but it was a basic, no frills 440.