..The 'big" V-8 in marine use was Chrysler's 440. There are still a lot of
them around in the older wood boats.

As for professional racing they used WWII era Allison's designed for
aircraft, V-12 Packards, or Rolls-Royce.






>
> The much storied 426 Hemi ("Race Hemi", "late Hemi", whatever...) was
> such an engine. It excelled at NASCAR in its day, thereafter in nitro
> burning dragsters with 100% power TBO of something like seven seconds.
> But you know why they were never used in marine applications? The
> valvetrain was good for a hundred hours, maybe, even at the 350-400 hp
> mark, and at 500 hp the lower end had maybe fifteen good hours.
> Monteverdi built a sports car called a Hai, with the Hemi, and few were
> built-they _could not_ make the Hemi live on the Autobahn for more than
> maybe ten thousand miles. Jensen would have nothing whatever to do with
> the Hemi.