My Edelbrock IAS shocks mount with the rod on the bottom. It's the same with a gas spring on a hatchback or hood. Mouting them with the cylinder on the bottom will reduce the life of the shock.
When you get into detailed racing and performance one of the things they stress and teach you is to keep as much weight off any of the moving suspension parts as possible. When the main body of a shock is mounted to the axle side, then your adding the weight of the shock to the parts that have to move. Running the shocks the way he did is actually keeping his suspension lighter, which is good because the main weight of the shock is on the body. For what its worth, all performance mono shocks can be mounted either way.
