Backfiring then quit

Check if the inlet manifold is tight. Mixture lean and sucking air.

weekend at about 4000 rpm's it started to backfire and got progressively worse as I went on. pulled the head off thinking that it is the head gasket, no anti freeze in the oil, the gasket was all intact, carbon build up in cylinder 3 & 4 was excessive and also in # 1 .I torqued the head twice, first on buildup then after 100 miles was on it. Any Ideas would help...

The car was backfiring and you pulled the cylinder head off?? That's a little extreme. Head gasket issues are usually indicated by blowing white smoke out of the tailpipe, not backfiring..... Backfiring can be caused by a number of things - take a look at this, found it by using Google -