[Barry_R]

This is one of those agruments that will never have an end.

From a pure architectural perspective the I beam seems to be the emerging choice for professional racing. So if you're looking at higher end Callies, Carillo, Oliver type stuff you'll be looking at I beams forged from 300M or similar. In the other realms of racing such as late model oval track the H beam is still highly regarded - with specialty suppliers such as Dyer or R&R. I all of these the material, engineeering and machining aspects are as important as the beam design if not more so.

In the land of less expensive rods such as Scat or Eagle the "game" is different. The offshore H beams were initially designed to mimic the appearance of the at the time most desireable Carillo H beams. The I beams were designed as upgraded stock replacements. The evolution of the products has thus been to have the inexpensive H beams ending up with noticeably nicer machining and somewhat better cosmetics. The offshore I beams are normally designed to be as inexpensive as possible while retaining desired features. Its still a blurry line between the two.

Even at the brand X white box house brand levels where the rods are brought into the country by companies named RPMMaxx or Star Galaxy the I vs H discussion can be a blurry line. These parts are decidedly not the same parts sold by Scat or Eagle. You did not think these ebay vendors just decided to fire up a forging foundry and machining center in China did you?