What I was trying to say is "traction being the same" is not enough information. Is the traction bad and the same, or fantastic and the same? It means everything, IMO.
You can only tune your manual with RPM. When you let fly, you shock the hell out of the driveline. I can tune my auto with lower rotating mass and with the converter which can do a ton of torque multiplication. I can also pre-load my driveline to reduce chance of breakage. Both require suspension work to optimize, that's for sure. HP loss through the device is only part of what makes fast. Plus I can pretty much be assured that my air shifter/RPM controller backed with 90 PSI of air can change gears way faster than you can with your arm+foot.
Other than that, manual takes more skill and can easily be seen as "more fun"
And there you have it in plain english. The automatic isn't faster by any means(the HP losses are cut and dry), just easier for ones that don't/can't make a stick car work. You can mush it around all you want, but that's the truth of it. Street or strip. If I loosen my clutch up, I can get it to hook on water. But then it's a real maintenance deal. I like going rounds and not working on it, so I don't have it set on kill. So Automatics are EASIER. That's it.
The whole "shift faster"? Not sure if you can compare apples to apples. Yes, that shift noid will bang it hard. Ever shift a Liberty equalizer? It's instantaneously in the next gear. No Lag. Yes, you have to move your arm, blah, blah, blah. But the time between gears is zero. Beyond the clutch slippage as it changes. Yes, it basically drives through the clutch as the next gear hits. If not, parts would fall out of the bottom. No different then converter slippage as it increases the load on the next gear. I use the clutch on my GF5R. Ya, slower engagement then clutchless. But who cares? I just want to run the same number, not worry about being .01 faster. Last weekend, my two TT were 10.925 and 10.929. Not too hateful for a 4000# stick car with 10.5" tire and TWO vacuum Holleys. At Beaver, two rounds of elims I was dead on 2 and dead on zero flat out.
The "glide"? Everyone likes them for bracket racing because they leave soft(not much first gear) and only one shift so there is very, very little chance of missing it. Plus it helps in consistency. With only one change of gear, it removes all the added effects of multiple gear changes and the change of ET from them. I know some dragster guys that basically shift their glide at about 60ft. Just enough to get the car moving, then shift. It's all about consistency. ET isn't the purpose. They just put bigger motors in. It's too easy today.