As the owner of an automatic with quite a bit of drag racing experience, I will say that it takes no skill at all to drive. Press the right foot down and hold it there, that is all.
Mine is a garden variety stock-stalled auto.

 

well based upon my knowledge the auto is more consitent and tends to be quicker than a manual in the 1/4 mile. From a roll the manual owns the auto though.

 

In stock setups (specifically an F-Body/Y-Body) the autos are slower than the manuals (though not by much), though the autos always remain more consistant.

That all changes with horsepower and transmission modification.

 

in most stock street cars, you will get better times out of a good driver because the manual often yields more WHP...however, once you get into big power, the auto allows more launch consistancy and rpm control than a stick..plus, you have almost no power loss between shifts...especially with older muscle cars and such (with stock-ish parts), you will often see better times out of the automatics because the manual transmissions back then were crude and more difficult to powershift smoothly.

with any small engine, i would say manual all the way. with my DD, an 02 stratus rt coupe...it ran a best of 15.96 or something, with the autostick...a well driven manual with the same mods has almost gotten into the 14s, so its about a second faster, if not more...but thats because i have no torque...

 

my take on it was simply...

when you get into the high power (maybe quicker then 10 seconds in the 1/4?) you want to go with auto, simply because of how quick you have to shift and the amount of power your dealing with

when you want to go around a track, or for a standard street machine, you stick with manual. simply because its better in terms of controlling your RPM and where you want to be in the rpm band.

 

but a built auto will keep your rpms where you want them...my car stays within the powerband as long as im moving and under power...but with the quick cars, i think that it might be a little sooner, especially with powerful cars. i believe that 98ls1 and jd1969 both ran faster with autos...and im certain that i couldnt run in the lower 12s with my car if i had a manual, especially since the older manuals were so rough...

 

im sure for many people the automatic will shift better then they would themselves. but in terms of racing outside of drag, even with alot of power, i would only go manual. you tend to have greater control in downshifting, engine braking, and just entering and exiting turns in general.

ive never done auto x in an automatic, so i guess im just talking out of my *** at this point, but after doing it, i would think it would be a pain in an auto. not to rip on any of you auto guys, cuz with a sub 10 second car, i would go with a auto/stall for the drag

 

oh, from the standpoint of roadracing or autoX, yes, i would agree that most any car would be better off with a manual...ive autocrossed an auto, but it was an autostick, so was still able to keep it in the lower gears...

 

If I were to put a torque converter in my car with, oh, say a 3500ish stall speed, I could probably expect to drop about a half second from my 1/4 mile ET. I don't think that swapping in a 6-speed would do that for me.

 

i personally love manual because it gives me more stuff to do while i drive. keeps me from getting bored, racing or not. to each their own =P

id go with the fun factor over performance. if i was serious, i would prolly use an auto for high power drags tho.