You'd kind of expect a car with full torque at 0 RPM to really blast out of the hole. Lots of videos of the Zombie on Youtube and there are a few where the gasser will beat him off the line and then about 100 feet down the track, the electric car whips him. I think if everything is done right, the wrap in the drive line acts like a big spring for a little while, but then the gasser runs out of torque to keep it up and the race is over.
I think Carol Shelby is one of the guys who said; "Horsepower makes the headlines but torque does the work!" True that.