Personally I would say that $5300 is a lot of money on mods.
personally I would have taken the $14500 you spent on a Peon and spent it on a Mustang Cobra. you are about as fast as you can go with a neon, and you would just be starting on a Cobra.
I bought my GTP for $11,500, stock ran 14.5, I have spent about $100 and haven't been to the track since, but I can tell a noticeable difference. if I put $3000 in it, I would bet that I would be mid 12's and alot more room to grow.
jm$.02