pump gas engine vs. high compression

Throwing out "you can run 10:1 with iron heads" is a really vague statement. Without building a very specialized engine (exspensive) you cannot. 9.2:1 is about the limit for an untouched combustion chamber without quench. But all that's a whole nuther arguement. If you're worried about the price of gas at ALL, maybe you shouldn't even buy a race car.