15" wheels will give you a the choice of a very much larger variety of tires to use, whether it be height, width, rubber compound, overall diameter, brand, etc. A wider variety of styles and offsets are also available with 15" wheels.
Front tire diameter will have the biggest affect on your reaction time. But exactly what you need can only be narrowed down through testing. If you position your car in exactly the same spot on the starting line each time, then a shorter tire will provide faster RT numbers than a taller tire because a taller tire will take longer to roll out of the starting line beams after YOU react to the lights.
Rear tire height should be tailored to what gears you will use and how much emphasis you put on acceleration or cruising/highway travel. As Mr. Cab
described, tall tires = less gear ratio , shorter tires = more gear ratio. If it's a dual-purpose. street/strip car, you may have to compromise. Tall tires and/or 3.23 gears will not accellerate anywhere near as fast as short tires and/or 4.10 gears.
Another item to consider is that a taller tire will actually put a little bigger "footprint" on the ground, which should help traction. So for optimum traction AND accelleration, use the tallest tire you can fit in the wheelwell and as much gear ratio as it takes to overcome the larger height/diameter plus provide maximum accelleration for the 1/4 mile. The tire/gear combo would depend on how modified your engine/converter is and its optimum rpm at the finish line. Too much overall gear ratio and it will "lay down", float the valves.
If you drive on the street also, you'll need to compromise so the engine is revving at high rpm when in high gear, especially on the highway. That will just wear it out quicker and provide dismal fuel mileage.
The extra weight of a taller tire isn't a significant performance concern.
