Hey Dan, if you're using hyd. roller lifters, there's a guy by the name of Jay Allen Sherman who can modify them to work well past 7000 while still maintaining the reliability of a stock lifter while performing like a solid. Alot of the NHRA stocker guys use them... I have contact info if you're interested. I spin mine 7000-7200 without a worry, and no between round adjustments.
I use a McLeod Soft Lok setup (long style, 10.5" press. plate w/ a sintered iron disc on an 11" alum. flywheel) that uses a modified clutch fork for the reasons you described. I had some issues getting the free play between the t/o bearing and clutch fingers setup properly to allow full engagement, but once that was straightened out I soon grew very fond of the unit's adjustability in pressure. You can easily take out/add some bite to the clutch for different track conditions... and different tires, so I found out (see video, lol.)
Speaking of hook... I found that 28x10.5 ET Drags offer all the hook you can throw at them if you're worried about traction, lol.
With Lidio tuning your ride, I imagine 9's should come real easy this spring once you work out the bugs. Sounds like fun to me!
Later,
-Ryan