New to drag racing. Need advice.

It doesn't even turn the tire. I think your issues are forward of the rear end...

The tune up and lag in the engine coming up off the bottom sounds very soft. I don't know where the timing is set at idle or total, those are the first things I'd look at. Maybe converter? I'd get the engine tune correct first before looking at "other" issues. Throw a timing light on it and see where things are set. Map out the curve too. If it's locked out, then the carb might be goofing things up.

You DO NOT need a 4 link!

You also need to find what the chassis wants when launching. Some like load on the converter, others not at all. I had one car that wouldn't launch for crap loaded and would stand on the bumper off idle. Find the sweet spot.