Let's look at this in a practical way.
Give $50,000.00 to two teams, one Muscle, and one Rice. Goal is a streetable car to go head-to-head 1/4 mile.
For $50K, you could get a '72-'74 Cuda or Chally, drop in a 440, bore it, 10.75:1 comp pistons, B1 heads, Purple shaft cam, performance carb with an M1 single plane intake, cold-air intake, headers and an X-pipe exhaust, 727 tranny with shift-kit, tubbed, caged, modern suspension, glass fenders and hood, sure-grip 4.10:1 rearend, Mickey T's, simple paint job
For the same $50K, ya take a Civic, put in one of those Acura motors, or whatever, bored out, higher comp. pistons, performance injectors, cam, turbo inductor, intercoolers, caged/reinforced frame, performance tires (how do ya tub a FWD?) body kit, lowering kit, race-tuned suspension, carbon fibre hood etc
Without NoS (cuz either car could use it, but no self-respecting Muscle car driver would use it) and straight-up motor, I'd put my money on the Mopar. Not just for preference, but because there's no replacement for displacement! Rice is almost always quick cuz of nitrous. Take away the bottle, and it's another subcompact in the way on the highway.
After they accept defeat to the 1/4 Mile Kings, they may babble about handling. Lemme just say that with a roll cage, and modern shocks/suspension, my Chally MATCHED a Porsche 911 in a slalomn race...and I was using bald 14" tires! I also went head-to-head with a Firefly with a full cage and turbo (I told him his car was 'gassy' cuz of the psshhh from the blow-off valve) and smoked him.
Altho I cheat, cuz my Detroit Iron is all fibreglass, so I knock off a few hiundred pounds. Not quite the weight of a Firefly, but power-to-weight is very good at around 7:1