Its funny when I have people tell me I'm not running my 340 hard enough. They all know someone who used to bang shift theirs at 8000rpm. I've run mine up to 6800 in real mild weather for a glory timeslip. Most of the time its 5800-6200.
mom always going for gold. Lol. But honestly I don’t beat my stuff to death. My 408 that ran 9.70’s I shifted at 6800 and my 422 that ran 9.40’s@7000 rpm. But when I didn’t rebuild it after three years I dropped it to 6700-6800. Honestly with a 850 carb, solid lifter cam, and five year old springs it was dead after 1000 foot when I tried for a 1/4 mile number (ran 1/8 mile races).