How strong is an a-body 8.25 and can you make it stronger?

I ran a Stock Eliminator race car for a number of years
with an 8 1/4. But it was a good one with a spool/Aftermarket
Axles/ and Chryo treated gears. It was 385 Flywheel HP. that
I believe was about the limit of power for reliability for serious racing
It is getting hard to find a selection of gears anymore for it for drag racing.
You might get by with another 50 more Hp on a street cars without a
high stall converter and slicks like the race car.
I talked to Larry Shephard who was the Direct Connection racer liaison
back in the early 70 and he said when Mopar went to the 8 1/4 over the 8 3/4
they saved a whole $2.00 per unit. They discouraged us from using the 8 1/4
for Drag Racing back then!