Yeah but it only takes one scored bearing to spin a bearing under load and once you do that there goes the rod out the block immediately under race conditions. Now if he was only idling, it may have never produced enough pressure to hurt it. Many bracket racers regularly run 1 quart low on BBC and when they do that it loses oil pressure through the big end right after they let off. But it's not under load anymore.
I choose not to do that, would rather not risk it just to pick up .02 seconds. Occasionally after many runs and some street driving if I burn a 1/2 a quart or so it will lose pressure after the big end for a second or two, then I know it's past time to top it off. All the serious guys run dry sumps. 7500 RPM or more in a big block can suck the sump dry faster than it can drain back.
I also wondered, I heard someone say he did a standing 1/2 mile with it? It made me wonder if his wet sump motor had enough oil reservoir to go that long without losing oil pressure...
Though I agree, aluminum has cycle limits, there is no strain threshold like steel where if you stay below it, it will last for indefinite cycles. With aluminum, its just a matter of how many. So the block lasted first season but I was wondering if it was going to last another season of that abuse. To be honest, I didn't think the block would last as long as it did with as much boost as he was running at times. I would of guessed that block was good for maybe 2000 HP, and he was pushing past 3,000.
He really should have an SMX billet block for what he's doing anyway.
