The 2009 Amsoil/Mopar Muscle engine challenge has come to a close, and we'd like to thank everyone who made it possible.

We just returned from Comp Cams in Memphis, Tennessee where we dyno'd the 7 competitors in this year's Engine Challenge. We'd like to especially thank Comp for offering their facility and personnel and for being such gracious hosts, and Amsoil as the title sponsor of the Challenge.

This year we featured B motors with Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinder heads, and there was no limit on displacement. As in past contests, we'll factor the retail cost of all the parts in each engine, then factor number into the combined peak torque and horsepower for a power per dollar score.

For now, I can tell you that Memphis was a blast as usual. It's fun to dyno engines, especially Mopar big-blocks, and especially since they aren't mine so they don't cost me anything if they blow up! Of course none of the engines had any failures to speak of (they are Mopar engines, right?) and all of the engines made very respectable power for their size.

Several techniques were used this year as builders like Schurbon and Chenoweth brought extra-cheap engines to the Challenge going for the win on cost, and others like JD, Mid America, and RM Competition built economical stroker motors to win on power. The Promax entry was a smooth, powerful piece as well, highlighting their engine building in addition to their carb work.

One of the definate highlights this year was watching as Jim and Cody LaRoy, the father and son team from LaRoy engines, made over 720 horsepower from a 451 cubic inch engine, only missing the top horsepower of the contest (claimed by JD's 500 inch motor)  by a single horsepower. I've seen some nice engines, and have built a few as well, but the LaRoy entry impressed everyone by making a whopping 1.6 horsepower per cubic inch (second place by this standard was 1.44) on pump gas, with Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, and a single four-barrel carb.

When asked how they performed so well, Jim LaRoy stated three reasons: "the first two are cylinder heads, and third, cylinder heads". Jim's son Cody ported their set in-house using his grandfather's flow bench and did an incredible job on them.

It'll be a while before I get all the numbers crunched to factor this year's winner, but as usual we were impressed with all of the competitors in the Engine Challenge. We certainly encourage you to call the builder nearest you about yoru next Mopar engine project.

Check out the videos of each engine running by simply clicking on the homepage.