If you are racing 100 RED and 40 door cars at a High dollar Bracket race it most be with rules that allow electronics. No doubt that's why you see allot of .00's, because they are dialing in their and their competiter's numbers. I don't know very much about all the electronic options, but I've heard some guys use "cross talk" ? Where they can dial-in the other guys dial-in, and when the other guy takes off they let go of their transbrake button, and the delay box lets her go on the difference.
We race Heritage JF on the 4 tenths pro-tree, and once in a while NHRA comp Elim on the 5 tenths full tree. You can't ask the driver to be one tenth slower on his reaction time, so we change the car. We change the valve design and spring in the trans brake, and change to a adjustable long throw button.
The other posts talking about blinders is the goal is to have a blinder to block out the top lights on the full tree, so it looks like/ works like a pro tree , ie go on the yellow. The FED's I've worked with that race Comp have blinders that are attached to the cowl that the driver can adjust depending on which lane they are racing. Your idea about blinders to keep the driver focused and not distracted by stuff going on around him is interesting. You know some of the big show Top Fuel drivers have tape on their helmet shields so they can only see what's in front of them, not the best idea if you are finish line /bracket racing.
Go to a Comp Elim race and check out the cars that run blinders for ideas on what you want to do on your car. I think the RED and the FED cars run blinders. I also know a racer that swears he can slow his RT down just a bit by lowering his front tire pressure from 35-40 to 25#'s. I'm tend to doubt that idea, but....... I have also talked to Heritage NE-1 [ 7.60 bracket] racers that fine tune
their ET by raising or lowering their engine temp when staging.
Good Luck and have fun !
Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels, 805-444-4489