I don't think you will have a problem with the veneer over glass. The glass is much much much much stiffer, the wood will not be stretched very much at all. Wood can stretch much more than glass can. I would try and use reasonably straight grained wood. Some really really really really nasty grain might pop a splinter, but decent grain shouldnt.
Actually the glass will not overpower the wood. In fact, having a much weaker material such as wood laminated against the glass, you'll get an effect called stress shielding, the glass being so much stiffer, shields the less stiff material (wood) from alot of the bending stress.
Asfar as performance ... it definately aint gonna make it faster. But thats not why were all into this trad ting anyway.