the local strips dont usually go by best time they go by most consistant time so fast isnt always what you want
Ahh, bracket racing.
That makes it a lot less important about overall speed then.
I've been at the track and seen 17 second car's win bracket racing tournaments just because of how consistent they were.
In that case, an eagle is a lot less terrible of a choice.
With the things Gronk suggested you should be able to able to run something quick enough that you'll find a group to be placed in. [Usually they do it in 1-2 second groups. Ex: 15-17 second cars].
You have the benefit of 4x4 to make your launches consistent, but you also won't be making enough power for it to be much of an issue.
Call your local track, or even just go by and see what kind of classes they break car's into.
A lot of track's don't have any/many cars over 16.50 seconds. If that's the case, you'll need to shave quite a bit of time off your ET.
What are some details on the car?
4 cyl or I6?
Manual or auto?
Wagon? SX4? Sedan?