re-read my son
1) pushrod engines are SMALLER than similar displacement DOHC motors. this allowed them to keep the LOW front hood profile they wanted.
2) pushrod engines are lighter, can be positioned lower in the chassis, and have a lower center of gravity than DOHC motors of similar displacement. This has obvious handling benefits.
They looked at dohc engine designs and decided that for what they wanted to do, it just didn't make sense. They wanted torque, which means high displacement - you do a big v8 DOHC and it weigh a ton. If you make a DOHC small enough to where it can keep the same hood line & weigh the same as the ls1, you give up a lot of displacement, and there goes all your torque. Chevy is in the business to sell cars- the buyer for a corvette wants raw dog torque, and lots of it. So they had to comply with that no matter what, so low displacement high revs (ferrari) wasn't an option. The ls1/6 has one of the best hp/weight ratios of any v8 made today, but it constantly gets crapped on b/c it's a "pushrod."
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