I'm too old and stiff to work my manual transmission fast enough to have any business racing anything, regardless what it is.
North of 100,000 and zero mods I think mine should really be kept to cruising. Or smoking the tires.
I do think the LS platform is a better place to start if you are modifying for acceleration or top speed. A buddy of mine and I bench-race prepped my 'vette for Bonniville and settled on an LS-7 as the right power plant. It will never actually be built that way.
But to tow it out there I'd prefer something built for torque and personally am much more likely to build that tow rig around a torquey TPI motor than ever build the top end runner or drag car.