Yep, 3/8" more stroke should make it a torquey beast- - - - -an old adage on the dirt tracks was "Horsepower is to brag about- - - - -torque wins races!" Some of the best shows I've seen on a quarter mile dirt oval were between a guy with a 361 MOPAR and another one with a 302 Chevy V8- - - -the Chevy would turn 8K RPM at the end of the straightaway, but he couldn't out drag the Plymouth off the turns. Those guys would run lap after lap side by side all the way around the track.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!