[Outlaw1]

I like street cars. I have built many, many, many 10 second cars without rollbars. Why would I do that you ask? I'll try to explain it best I can. This is gonna get lengthy so feel free to pass it up and dismiss it as jibberish.

Back home we have a huge street car scene. 4/5 years ago a large group of local cars got together and made a three hour drive to a relatively new track in San Antonio. All of the cars were NHRA legal with rollbars, etc., and were trailered. Except one. One looked like a bone stock '98 SS Camaro.
Out of the group, two of the other street cars ran faster than me. One was a super gutted 2,800lb '88 GT with a 608RWHP blown 306 that pulled a 1.48 60' and ran a 10.50 @ 138 with a five speed. BTW, I set the chassis up on that car and with an automatic it pulled LOW 1.3x sixty foots. Secondly, there was a 3,000lb '84 GT with a 351 crate motor, 300HP nitrous kit and a t-braked auto. He ran a 10.58. Both cars ran race fuel. Granted, those aren't the fastest street cars in the world, but these are cars that hit the street scene nearly every weekend and both now run deep into the nines.
I drove a '98 SS Camaro 200 miles to the track, swapped tires (26x10 Hoosier DOT's) and immediately got in line. With horrible track prep and straight off of the interstate I ran a 10.60 @ 128mph on the bottle. I ran two 11.60's @ 123 on the motor back to back. Then sprayed another 10.60 @ 128. Yes, the bottle mph is low. The 60' on motor was super weak, on the bottle it was in the high 1.5's, still spinning it's butt off. The programming in the PCM would not let the engine spin over 6,600. With the 26" tall tires, I was turning the bottle off and shutting down very early. I had to drive this thing home, ya know!
After swapping the stock SS wheels back onto the Camaro, I drove 200 miles back home and passed every single trailered car in the process. The A/C was blowing cold, stereo was blasting, all while enjoying the P/S, P/W, P/L and fully loaded leather interior. Street car!
Who do you think enjoyed their cars more? The gutted street cars that had to be trailered to the track, or the stock appearing street car...? Don't lose sight of your goals. If you want to build a compeditive race car, have the funds and desire, go for it! If you want something you can enjoy, build it that way. With either decision, hope it turns out well for you.