I'm curious to know what you would do?

Gale Banks has an interesting You Tube video on the '24 Duramax. It speaks to how the truck cannot utilize its max torque capability, except in very limited situations where the truck can stay in first gear. Perhaps the situation is similar in the HO. It has the "potential" to achieve it's power rating but not really achievable in most driving situations. He talks about the torque rise capability and how important that number really is. Your the man when comes to figuring all that out, but after seeing that video, I immediately thought of the HO's run up the IKE as an explanation of why it's run was pretty average considering the spec sheet.