I'm looking at getting some 17" wheels that are 9.5" wide for my rear and running the recomended 275 40 ZR17 tire. I was thinking I would just get the 8.5" wide front wheels, but what width tire should I run? I want to stagger the width a little bit but this is new territory for me so I'm not sure how it will affect the handling.

Also, now that I think about it 275 is pretty fing wide, is that going to fit back there?!
I want to go so wide for drag racing.

 

for drag you best bet probably would be 15x10.5 wheel. I've been searching around and 275 tire should fit in the back without much problems. For the front i believe max you can run is 275. with 8.5" wide rim i believe it would have to be 255 wide tire
I'm looking at 17x11 wide rim for the back with 315 and 17x9.5 for the front with 275 for my bird. If you are coming from smaller width tires then your handling should improve.