What I know works: less weight, more compression, make the engine as big as you can. So I started out with making my car as light as I could while maintaining the look I wanted. 3350 with me ready to race. Then it got a 15-1 572. The 5th full pass the car ran 9.3x. Since that time (630 passes) it has had engine maintenance parts. But still has the same heads, compression, cam,& rockers, headers, carbs and intake. Learned what lives and what doesn't. Pac valve springs, Isky bushed lifters, Landrum rear coil springs, Molnar crank, US gear pro gear have fixed any problems that have occured. Maintenance is very low. Same type tires (M/T 10.5Wx31) and overall weight. Swapped rear gear from 4.10 to 4.30 no real change. Aluminum high drum replaced a billet steel unit along with lightening the sun shell. This was worth nearly a 7lb reduction. It was also worth close to .10 in the 1/8th. Various converters picked up .20 putting the car in the 9.0x range. Shocks and springs have helped consistency but really haven't made the personal best any better (1.25, 5.72@121, 9.00@150). Though they sure have helped to put the car in the winners circle. In ways I'm a lazy tuner. Never really chased jetting, lash, timing. We've moved it a little with no real improvement. However nearly every trip to the track for us is a race. Our testing is usally limited to put the car on index or adjust for poor track conditions. We are focused on that. Cant win with a car that won't repeat.
Doug