Having a swingarm dragster with a 582 running low 7.60's I can tell you that pulling timing out is not going to help that much. We pulled our timing out one weekend to race with the NOS (only set up on a button for top end but needed to spray hard to get in a quick 16). We took timing from 34 to 28 degrees. It only lost about .07 in a 1/4 mile and 1 mph. Pulling any more than that is going to create a consistency problem as we tried that too pulling it down to 26 degrees. The combo did not like it.
One thing you can try is to throw a really, really loose converter in the car and shift it into high gear right off the hit. If you are shifting RPM set your launch to 3800 and shift it at 4600. The only downside to this, converter and trans temps will increase so if you are going rounds, it will be very important to monitor. If you are shifting on time, got for 0.10 out. This will allow you to break the beam and should not change your reaction times.
What I would recommend is on your long track, try getting the car stopped short but getting it stopped safely. This will help you when you get to the short tracks.