Auto Racing: 4 cylinder racing, back stretches, mileage engine

Question
I work on a 4 cylinder race car for my uncle. He drives a 92 Cavalier with a 2.2 with about 200,000 miles. We are great through the corners, but most of the best cars pull away down the front and back stretches. Do you have any ideas for us to do to try to increase the power to keep up with them without losing our cornering?

Answer
the answer is easy, but may cost some bucks.  There's mods you can make to your present engine, but burning the candle at both ends means a high mileage engine may grenade sooner.
   If you can afford to find a 2.8 which would bolt right in, or a 2.2 with less miles, it would be more cost effective in the long run.
   There are a number of aftermarket cams available, that will increase your hp and work with your present computer and injection system.  You can trust any reputable cam manufacturer, and their recommendations as to track size, power band (where you need the car to come alive, either at low rpms or high).  Be factual and realistic when you tell them your needs. Shaving .030 off the head helps, (run premium).  If your car is a stick, shaving the flywheel helps especially out of the corners.  Any more would start getting into converting to carburetion, big cams, headers, etc.  Your car is already equipped with a real nice factory header style exhaust.
   On a lower buck note, Losing unnecessary weight off your car most likely will not impair your cornering, probably even make it that much better.
   Lose every nut, bolt, bracket, trim piece, etc, you can.  One day I took off every little part I could find, and even scraped the rust proofing out of the wheel wells, at the end of the day I weighed the bucket I had put all this stuff into and it was over 100 lbs!!!
   Most late model engines were designed from the inside out for drivability, economy and emissions, so it's hard to find a hard line simple mod to help.  In the old days, a cam, headers and 4 barrel was all you needed.
   Most important, squeeze every horse you can, fresh plugs and wires, premium gas, synthetic oil, a clean air filter, routing fresh air directly into the induction system all helps.