W. OEM stock production magnetic steel connecting rods and crankshafts only. No knife edging or polishing crankshafts.
Here is the "rule" I must "abide by" I am looking for 7000rpm's and reasonable dependance. Coming into the turns at 5000, leaving at 6800 or so. Other than the markings, are cranks like the Scat 9000, or eagle, or whatever visually identifiable. I am pretty sure I have the rod situation figured out, but any more help is appreciated. We are talking less than 400HP at the crank, too. Will hypereutectic pistons hold up? I am, like almost everybody, on somewhat of a budget. What about rings and bearings? H bearings? Thin rings? Moly... gapless? What brand? Would like to have a motor that would only be re-ringed AT MOST EVERY SEASON, would like 2 seasons, but realize that may not be possible. 30 laps, 3/8 mile, 20 races.

 

You never said which engine you are talking about. There's a multitude of small block and big block engines. But there is some basic theory I can help you with, regardless of the exact engine you are considering.

If you do not have the cashflow for a trick engine, but still want high rpm capability, then I would suggest avoiding the stroker engines. When you increase stroke, you increase torque, but also increase piston speed. This requires more advanced metals and more expensive parts, in order to have your cake and eat it too.

Best thing you can do is go with some of the better rod/stroke combinations. I'm assuming you are referring to a Corvette, by virtue of this being a Corvette forum. Corvettes are a bit on the heavy side for a track racer. Which is why racing with a big block was more popular. Even though a typical small block at 494 pounds is lighter than a typical big block at 609 pounds, the big block will give you the ***** to haul a heavy-ish Corvette around a race track, and will be capable of making horsepower upstairs. If you build a 396 or a 427, cast crank and stock rods are fine, as are hypereutectic pistons. You'll want to use ARP rod bolts and stud the mains probably, for the extra strength, and definitely shot peen and polish the rods. Then throw in a solid flat tappet cam and go play. Oval port heads WILL work if you do a lot of work on them, increase valve sizes, bowl blending, radiusing, and unshrouding. But the machine work necessary might violate your budget. In which case I'd say, just get the rectangle port heads. They'll flow well naturally, without a lot of machine work. And although they'll give up some midrange and low end torque, you're camming for higher rpm on a racetrack anyway, so who cares?

You CAN build a bunch of different small blocks that will rev well without a lot of exotic parts, but like I said, they can't be strokers and still expect to live at 7 grand with cast parts. Okay? Say what you will, "I know so-and-so who does it and hasn't had any problems..." I'm talking basic theory here.

Go with less stroke, dude. Increase your rod to stroke ratio. 327's are good. So are 350's with 6-inch rods. 400's are good if you have a forged 350 rod welded up and turned in the mains to fit the larger 400 mains. That gives you a 372, or a 377 bored 0.030" over (the safe limit for a 400). That's a very popular circle track engine, by the way. You get the cubes AND the revs. You could also build a high compression 302 Z28-type motor, and make about 1.5 hp/cubic inch for around 450 hp. This would work too, but would obviously lack the midrange torque to pull out of the hole. So if you go the small block route, go with as many cubes as you can get and still maintain a good rod/stroke ratio...AND LIGHTEN YOUR CORVETTE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!

You'll run into Cobras on the track if running vintage, and they are always tough, because they're very light and very quick. The best route is probably going to be a 427 on a lightened Corvette with maybe 3.55 gears.

Good luck.
Basically, high compression, cubic inches, rod/stroke ratio, solid cam, ARP and good machine work throughout.