I'm working on an LT1 rebuild and tryingto decide which rods to go with, I was thinking about the saying better safe than sorry, and going with teh H-beam rods. But really how strong is an I-beam rod? I'd hate to put all this money in this engine and have a rod to fail, thought I probably wont drag it, I do have a heavy foot, and love a red light challenge, I'm running forged pistons and have had the block bored 30 over already, I plan to run the stock crank as it cleaned up nice at teh machine shop.When would an H-beam rod truly be required?  

An aftermarket I-beam should be plenty strong for a street machine. A big advantage of h-beam rods are the common capscrew designs associated with them that gain ample clearance for larger than stock stroke lengths. The H-beam does offer some increases in durability but in this case it would most likely be overkill.