I would suggest finding a local track and go there on test n tune night.
Talk to some the guys with trucks.
Around here the drag racing community at the track will go out of their way to tell you their setup and how much money they have in it. Ive had issues at a track 3 hours from the house, walk up to a trailer and talk to the guys for a minute to see if they had a 27mm 12 point or a 1-1/16" 12 point socket so i could tighten up a ARP balancer bolt on a LS engine. One the guys got on the phone and in 5 minutes a old man pulled up in a old farm truck and told me to hop in and he took me to his shop down the road and let me go thru his tools till i found the socket i needed. Took me back to the track and told me to keep the socket. Even made sure i had jack stands to put under the car and before crawling under there.
We have taken one my customers car to the track for a race and lost first round cause of a Co2 bottle leak and didnt have any boost control nor air shifter control. One of the guys that was in semi finals had a powerglide transmission failure so we took the powerglide out of my customers car and let him borrow it and he won the race. He pulled the transmission and brought it over with 3/4 of his winnings to pay my customer for letting him borrow the transmission.. Thats the kinda guys i like to hang around at the track while tuning.
when the race has a $60,000 pot and a competitor comes around asking for a transbrake solenoid or some boost hose that has melted on their car we go out of our way to help and so will they. its a unspoken rule to help each other and if you win you reward the guy that helped you.
Years ago before turbo stuff was popular id let guys ride with me at the track in my turbo truck to get a idea what kinda fun it is. It ran 11.7s in the 1/4 with a stock 6.0, stock 4L80E, 3.42s and a turbo, id haul my buddys cars to the track on a trailer and race with them. Load them up and haul them home with the truck.
I can share a bill of a customers truck im building now. Its a 4.8L LS engine, TH400 Transmission, Twin S366 turbos, Fuel system and such.
How fast are you trying to go or what kinda goals are you looking at? Cause this can go from mild to wild very fast.
Im building a Aluminum 402ci LS engine with LS3 heads, Holley HiRam intake, Holley nitrous perimeter plate, and a 6L80E for a 1991 C1500. Should make 700-750rwhp pretty easy.
You dont have to go fast to have fun at the track, but more power is more rewarding, expensive but rewarding.