I know plenty of Ford/GM/etc racers who band-aid crap together and (try to) run it.

I'm sure most of us know the guys who run used up scrap just to try and make another pass. The A-hole who oils down the track holding everyone up, etc etc. It's not just mopar people. You know the schmucks I'm talking about: welded heads, welded blocks, f**kers would, and sometimes have, tried to weld pistons just so they could make another pass. They're idiots, true, but they are "racers."

Olds MUST have an aftermarket block because those stupid factory blocks have freaking windows in the main web. They can't even pretend to themselves that they can hold power.

I think that's the real problem, false hope. We can convince ourselves that a 400 block will be enough, or aluminum main caps will be enough, or whatever. And for some guys, it's true. But there's not enough guys who want to make "real power" and KNOW that they have to buy a good block to sustain the market, at least not for wedge stuff. And since fuel stuff is all/mostly solid billet block now, we can't piggyback off the fueler guys. S/F...Ken M