Need to win in my wagon!

[Silent Knight]

Get a NOS kit installed and shove a 100 shot in there off the mark.

[Lanius]

Your car should be fine for beating 16 seconds in stock trim. The blacktop engines from factory are already in an almost optimal state of tune, meaning that to get much more power out of them, you have to get pretty extreme. Blacktops produce max torque around 5600rpm, and max power at 7800rpm, so as long as you're revving right out (redline at 8000rpm) and taking advantage of where the power lies, you should beat 16 seconds comfortably. Doing a few basics can't hurt though If you're on a tight budget, then you're kinda limited to the basics, unless you've got a fair bit of technical know-how and can do a lot of the work yourself (in which case I'm guessing you wouldn't be here asking for advice ).

Cold air would help significantly more than heat wrapping the headers (especially if you've got a pod filter installed). Design a cold air box to completely surround the pod filter if possible, and then the necessary piping to supply a good steady flow of cold air into the box. There are a couple of people on this forum who could probably offer to make one up for you for a few dollars if you're not confident doing it yourself.

Like Revvy said, don't bother with the headgasket. Blacktops already have an 11:1 ratio (iirc), and can already have problems with pinging on a hot day. Raising the compression would cause more trouble than its worth, as the ECU will simply retard the ignition timing if it detects knocking, thus negating any benefits from the higher CR.

Losing some fat from your car will probably be the best place to look for improving your times down the quarter.

HTH.