try to plan to get to the track with less than 1/4 tank of fuel (8lbs per gallon, less weight = quicker et)
drive around the water (only needed for cars with slicks)
use two feet, on on the brake one on the throttle,
pull SLOWLY into the staging lights, no more than 1mph, when the pre-stage lights come on, you only roll another 18 in or so to light the staging lights.
Once staged, bring your revs just above idle and focus on the last yellow light before the green. When the last yellow lights, release the brake and roll into the throttle. You will probably find that there is less traction at the strip than on the street. At my local track (E-town) that's usually the case.
Your 60' time , ET and trap speed should be critiqued simultaneously. Your 60' will tell you how much a klutz you are on your launch, the ET will tell you if you've made any other mistakes (kinda hard in an automatic transmissioned vehicle), and your trap speed is an indication of what kind of HP you're putting to the pavement.
my example, bone stock I ran a 14.8 on a 2.3 60' with a 94mph trap speed. Which is right on par for a 98 no-mod car.
Bad example, me again, with my Bi-turbo Audi A6 AWD 6 spd, stage 5 with approx 480 hp on race gas..
Best et when stock 14.4 on a 2.1 60' @ 98 mph.
Best et when modded 13.01 on a 2.2 60' @ 109 mph..
Hope this helps. Also ZZ performance's tech articles page has some pretty good pointers.