Reaction time has no influence on times and speeds. It WILL affect whether you get to the finish line first in a head-to-head race, but will not affect your times. Here's why:
Reaction time is measured as the time between when the green light goes on and the front tires trip the start beacon, which is very close to the staging lights. Elapsed time (ET), is measured as the time between when the clock start beacon is tripped and the finish beacon is tripped 1/4 mile away. You can sit there a whole second before launching and your ET will be the same. If you were in a head-to-head race, chances are you'd lose by a whole bunch, but your time could still be very good. Reaction time is why you may see a pro drag race on TV, and a higher ET will win a race against the next lane, even though that other lane might have had a lower ET; in this case, the driver with the better reaction time is the winner.
I don't know if you were using the "pro" lights or the weekend warrior ("sportsman") lights: in the pro version, the yellow lights all come on and almost instantaneously the green light then comes on (.4 seconds later). In the other version of the light sequence, it's "yellow-yellow-yellow-green", with the yellow lights coming on 1/2 second apart. If this is the version of the tree you were on, here's a tip: Stage "deep", meaning stage where the first staging light comes on, then inch forward very slowly until the second light comes on, and don't creep up beyond that. This gives the longest distance between where you are staged and where the starting beacon is. It's only a few inches difference, but you hit the start light with that little extra bit of momentum. And if you stage in this manner, for a good reaction time think "yellow-yellow-GO". The idea is the drop the clutch right as the second light is going off (the third light is coming on). Since you deep-staged, this gives the driveline to load up and your car a chance to start moving, and hit the start beacon even though you are actually starting to move the car before the green light comes on. This technique will cut it pretty close, so you may end up red-lighting once or twice until you can dial in the technique.
Of course, you may need to adjust a hair of a second quicker or slower depending on how soft and sticky your rear tires are, the surface condition, temperature, etc. But again, this is totally unnecessary if you're only out there to get 1/4-mile ET and MPH. I've not done a 1/4 mile with my NSX but have done Christmas Tree lights at autocross Pro Solo events, where the start is side-by-side using the lights. I routinely cut lights around 0.1 seconds, and my son even nailed a perfect light reaction time: 0.000!
EDIT: P.S. Clarification: in drag racing ET is the time between the start beacon and the finish beacon. In autocross Pro Solo, the time is measured when the green light goes on, so sitting there DOES influence time. Disclaimer: this is how I understood timing to work. I am not 100% sure all tracks use this timing method but I am pretty darned sure. :biggrin:
