Presumably, the remote cooler, and convoluted lines, are to add capacity to the system to better handle heat in a combined fashion. Deleting the cooler and it's lines also reduces capacity. It doesn't add much weight...why do you want to remove it?
Mine hasn't leaked in the time I've owned the car, nearly ten years - I just made sure to clean it out so it could do it's job and that the hose clamps were tight.
Besides, racks and pumps are neither cheap nor easy to replace, so anything that can help protect them is welcome. If you're just trying to strip down for the strip, then delete power steering altogether, and run electric assist.