Best rear tire for handling and traction...

[Trick Pony]

It's hard to find a good compromise if you want to be able to launch in 1st AND have optimum grip for handling too, so I just ended up with 2 different sets of wheels and tires.
For roadracing I run Nitto NT-01s on 18s. They are incredible for cornering and they do offer pretty good straight line grip when they're warm too but for hard launches they're never going to grip as well as a DR because they have MUCH stiffer sidewalls. For the drag strip I run the 16" CCW drag pack with M/T ET Streets (bias plies so no cornering on those).

 

[Wings65288]

I just got the MT 275 radials. I can't wait to launch it in 1st!

 

[sunburned]

I just got the MT 275 radials. I can't wait to launch it in 1st!

Don't even think about taking turns hard on those.

You would have been much better on the Nitto 555RII's, which are the same tread as the drag radials, but a much stiffer sidewall. There really isn't a tire that will function as a full DR and still handle well, the sidewall makes all the difference.