Rearend question

When I raced my Camaro, I put a 12 bolt under it, stock width. I centered the "pumpkin" section in relation to the new spring perches I had to weld on. As it was from the factory, both axles were the same length, therefore when I bought new MW 35 spline axles, they also were the same length. Fast forward to now, my buddy is running a 9 inch Ford under his Camaro with the pinion centered in relation to the ladder bar mounting brackets, which also make the pinion centered in the car. His axles are different lengths. Is this something inherent with a 9 inch Ford, or just because the pinion is centered in the car? I forgot to add that his 9 inch has been narrowed and is very apparent that the right axle "tube", is longer than the left. Is that a boo-boo from narrowing the rearend and centering the pinion or a necessity with the 9 inch because of that drastic pinion offset?

I worry about this because I am narrowing a 12 bolt for my Vega wagon racecar and would really like the have the same length axles. Just knowing the axles in his car are different lengths, gives me the willies just sitting in it.

In that vein, the rear end in my 72 Nova is off about 2 inches to the passenger side. I intend to remedy that with new perches. However, I am going to center the "pumpkin" in the car which will leave the pinion about 1 to 2 inches right of center. Since the width will not change, the axles should be the same length. It's an 8.5 ten bolt with a truck posi unit. Any thoughts on this? Crap like this keeps me awake at night!