If you're distributing stats for the long term...
Kunark Era raiding:
Better off pumping 25 points into STR and 5 into STA, regardless of race. The more STR you get from single large sources on gear (Ragebringer, TBB, Gauntlets of Potence, etc) means the more resists you can stack without penalties. Being a barb means you've got that much less STR to worry about and can stack that much more resist gear without compromising, although really there is no "wrong" race.
Velious Era raiding:
Better off pumping 25 points into STA and 5 into STR because of how much stat gear there is which just so happens to carry both STR and resists. STA is the only stat that is hard to max out for most classes.
Race choice becomes tougher in velious as gnomes, thought to be the weakest race for this class, get some
seriously awesome shit to contend with high barbarian/dwarven base stats and the halfling xp bonus. Or just go DE if you like looking swag all the time.
(edit) Finally, on the subject of autoattack damage, rogues should be doing more on auto-attack than most other classes because they are on a higher damage table, which on live looked like this during Kunark era:
Tier 1 (highest)
Rogue
Monk
Tier 2 (high)
Warrior
Ranger
Tier 3 (Mid)
Shadowknight
Paladin
Bard
Tier 4 (Low)
Shaman
Cleric
Dru
Tier 5 (Hahahaha)
Wiz/Enc/Mag/Nec
What this means is that a rogue with a 10/20 piercer at the same skill level as a warrior with a 10/20 piercer will do more auto-attack damage than the warrior, completely disregarding "bonus" hits like backstab and kick. It also means a rogue still does significant dps from the front, it's just not nearly as optimal as the rear. Also, that table takes a big kick from 59 to 60 for the top tier, though I'm unsure how much.
I believe during Velious or Luclin rangers were bumped up to Tier 1 tables (likely Velious), in addition to fixing their max skills.