I think Street Outlaws has blurred reality of how fast, hard and expensive a ten second car is.
You can put a China turbo on a junk yard LS and have something for a while but it's a short while. Build a 650 or 700 hp big block that makes 2000 pass's with a few refreshes and you have something.
funny you mention this. A guy at our track did this exact thing, a Chinese turbo on a ls. Drives it on the highway 70 mph and runs 9.40's. Did it all summer too...