The Kid makes a few excellent points about drivetrain strength and the whole purpose of building a hot rod Fiero. Although there are some pretty fast Fieros on the Forum (his included) , the bottom line is that no matter how fast your Fiero is, the modified brand X car owner will always have the edge in the 1/4 mile. Other vehicles have the option of using traction bars, super duty U joints,full race trannys, high strength limited slip differentials, and have a WIDE selection of performance parts at their disposal..
As long as you don't expect to be king of the drags, a Fiero is still a very nice car to build, own, drive, and enjoy.

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87GT 3.4 Turbo Best 0-60 5.2 seconds
http://turbofiero.fierojoe.com/turbo.htm

As for the wheelstanding Hemi Under Glass, one must keep in mind that the car was design and engineered to pull and carry the front wheels for the entire 1320.

The point of building a drag race Fiero:
It is definitely possible to build a faster front-engine/rear-drive drag racer. I actually have a such a project that I put on hold to look into this. The problem is that the suspension needed to make a front-engine car effectively transfer enough weight for a good launch absolutely destroysits handling.

Enter the lowly, unlikely, Fiero. Mid-engine, great traction with stock suspension. The problems are weak components, and potential wheelstanding. What I have found is that there are strong components available, but they must be adapted and mated to this application. For me that is not a problem because I can do most of this work myself. After it has been done once or thrice it will become more feasible for others.

Front-engine/rear-drive racers started with a huge problem no traction and developed the second best dedicated straight-line racing format available. The best is mid-engine - Top Fuel baby!!! The front wheel drive Gen X & Yers were ridiculed, but they are now deep in the eights, and promising to hit the sevens real soon.

You have to look the challenge square in the face and rid yourself of any negativity to find what is truly possible. My guess is that the mid-engine/rear-drive format is the street-legal racers dream come true. How can you beat a car that can go, turn, and stop well?

As for making it work - some of the technology that works for the front drivers will work for us - remember a Fiero was based on the front-drive GM X-car drivetrain - relocated to the rear. There have been many possible solutions to the wheelstanding hurdle in this thread. I like to get way out there and explore the outrageous but when it comes time to put it into practice things like 100+% anti-squat rear suspension geometry, adjustable shock valving, trick torque converters, and even skillful left foot clutch work can all make easy work out of launching the car.

perk - phitown