The guy who used to do my transmissions up here swore by his ( Jerry Hoss )........it was a very mild 454 and he used a bolt under the go pedal to keep it near 8.90.
He said it went straight as a string and never gave him a moment's worry.
Low tech , low maintenance fun.
If he would have came into the current electronics arena , I bet he would have gone more rounds , but he did go some.
He said it would go red off the brake , so he had a stone age delay box , trans brake and electric shift valve body.
I'll bet that car is still making laps.