I remember being told at one of the old Mopar drag seminars that the oil level should be a minimum of six inches lower than any of the crankshaft rotating parts, IE rod caps or rod bolts , whatever is the lowest
As far as pumping loss a crankshaft scraper and adequate oil drain back will help reduce the oil mass influensing the density of the rotating air mass in the crankcase area, liquids don't compress very well Most of the current state of the art drag race wet sump oil pans for motors that the main webbing ends at the center of the main caps use huge oil pans with enormous sumps with kick outs on the passenger sides and not much oil in them
Are you using a vacume pump? If not, why not?