Wow, what to recommend. That's hard to answer. First off are you partial to a brand? full bodied or open cockpit? how fast are you wanting to go? Newer body style or more of a nostalgia car.
For me I just put together an altered and I really like driving an open bodied car. I bought a crate engine from ATK's high performance division.
Chevy engines are about the cheapest to build and most bracket racers probably run powerglide transmissions.