[Paul Kane]

We have come a very long way from the beginnings of aluminum rods which were originally sawed and shaped from aluminum plate. Those kinds of rods I might not trust.

There are aluminum rods manufactured today that may be run reliably in the typical street-driven performance engine for literally tens of thousands of miles (or more) without any issues. Indeed, aluminum is a different animal than steel, and so the builder needs to understand the intimacies/idiosyncrasies of each rod material and build accordingly.

The short simplified answer: Yes, a connecting rod capable of sustaining several thousand horsepower (for a short period of time) may be run successfully in an engine generating just several hundred (for a longer period of time).