And just to add a counterpoint: Many years ago I was waiting outside the gate of a drag strip waiting for them to open up for the evening's racing. I had my '33 coupe with a 300 ci straight six. Right behind me two racers pulled in with high dollar rigs. Inside their closed trailers each had a modified Grand National turbo V6. I admired their cars and wished them luck. They didn't have much to say and barely glanced at my car. OK, no big deal. Beat one in the semi-finals; smoked the other in the finals. Life is goood.
Yep, I hear ya. I do favor the in liners. I was just being a nasty old man. I built (CNC machined) a complete set of alum (7075) high lift roller rockers for a 300+ GMC inline. Unfortunately I watched my Buddy (and my self) who was a bracket racer all his life and a closet in line guy, grow to old to bring the project to fruition. He had prepped a block and head and had all the goodies, but needed a car to put it in. Darn I really wanted to see that thing run. One of his cars was a very fast inline powered Maverick.
ok, I went through and cleaned up the last few pages on this mess... the year cut off here is 1965. so no pintos, no mustangs of any year, no mavericks and no 66-7 novas