help me build my first race car

Artie (God-father) makes sense. Also, your un-known budget is an issue. G-Jones makes a great point on where to start in building your own if you can't purchase all ready done like pettyblu said. Which is the big dollar winner.

Speaking of dollars vs bang for the buck ....

Rebuilding the 400 with just an overbore and oversize slugs is about the cheapest way to get started (Engine wise) The 400 can run into the 11 easy. 10's without a big effort. It's just harder for a smaller engine. Stroking often comes up since the kits are cheap and displacements are easy to go up fast and into 500+ cubes on just a phone call and card charge/debit run.

The old MoPar Performance catalogs gave "Tips" (Actual part listing) on how to get your strip ride into the *** zone. Basically, without much detail ... for now... you just need a decent compression ratio, a MP cam (296/.557) a single plane M1 and ported heads (Well ported big valve) Add gear/converter/springs and reduce weight.