thoughts and advice for a newbie to drag racing?

If you are wanting to make a race car don't do the 4 speed, VERY expensive to make strong and VERY hard to make consistent (consistency helps to win races). The 727 is a great trans, very strong, just don't do any stupid stuff with it (e.g. 1st gear burnouts) and it will handle anything you throw at it. I have a 727 in my 10 second strip/street car...no issues. If I were to do it all over again, I would go with a 904 trans. The 904 takes less power to run, which usually gets you 1-3 tenths quicker than a 727 (depending on the combo).

Your car doesn't have to be fast to be a good bracket racer...heck, one of the guys I race with at my track drives a 16.7 second dodge Omni...and he is 4th in points.

Make a plan for the car, and stick to it...that's my best advice. All the parts should complement each other. For a bracket car, you want consistency and reliability...doesn't have to be the fastest (but that is nice too :-D).