Justen, horsepower alone is not so critical, but the shape of the horsepower and torque curve is very important to a racer. The more torque "under the curve" = the quicker you will go in a quarter mile. The Thai car magazines often have "dyno day" articles where a "tuner" is "increasing" the horsepower for a customer. I always have to laugh because I know the "tuner" has made the car actually slower by making the HP and Torque curve "peaky"(though higher), that is, occur at a much higher rpm and within a narrower band. For an automatic trans drag racer like me, I want a broad torque curve for several reasons, not the least of which is so the chassis will not load and unload. With the little Vortech V9 blower on my 1UZ it may well be a bit peaky, but I will supplement a little NOS from 3500 to 5500 to fill the mid range until the boost comes on - only when I need to go quick to qualify. But for the brackets I will run without NOS and take whatever number I get with the blower . . . and then adjust the shifts and/or chassis for consistency and reliability.
