agree with BMEP, VE and max torque relationship was my assumption, it seemed right at the time- still seems generally right. Too much much math takes the fun out of it.
I was trying to understand how too many rpms would blow a head gasket when I thought that the percent of cylinder filling was pretty much dimishing as rpm increased past the torque peak, and hp would increase only as the number of events were happening per time--I think.

Thanks