Broken windshields and wrinkled quarter-panels....ahhh, the price we pay for performance. There's an old saying, "Speed costs money, son. How fast do you want to go?"

Is bigger always better?

I was going to build a big old 550+ cubic inch sixpack motor, but decided to just build a little 493 inch motor because of the above mentioned items. As it is, it puts out close to 700 horsepower at 5500 rpm, and I'm still worried about those things.

I had to spend a lot of money upgrading all the links in the chain to handle that horsepower level, fuel system, ignition system, exhaust, driveshaft, subframe connectors, and Cal-tracs. With todays DOT legal drag-radial tire technology, hooking up is going to be possible, but tire life short.

Something to think about when deciding....One time I had a 500 horsepower 440" 'Cuda do an nearly instantanious 180 degree rotation at 45 mph when I popped the clutch it in 2nd while punching it. My buddy still talks about that to this day. We spun out onto the freeway backwards in a cloud of smoke. Got lucky that day. I never had that car do anything like that in the hundreds of times I'd done that before. Note to self, be f'ing careful with big horsepower.