I have a 410 stroker in my car and I had an air gap intake and it made 390rwhp on the dyno. I changed cam to afew degrees bigger(from 238 @ 50 with 110 l/sep to a 241 @50 with a 112 l/sep) and changed to a Victor 340 manifold . It now made 425 rwhp but lost a bit of torque on the dyno but in real world driving (5 speed manual) I cannot notice any difference. I feel it is noticably quicker especially as when you just put your foot into it in second gear it just goes mad with wheelspin immediately to 6500rpm. Lets face it with a stroker 410 how much torque do you need in a 3000lb car?
But getting this through to someone who hasn't done it is difficult. Like you say, mash it from a roll in second and it incinerates the tires, what more does one want?