Not even! I've seen poeple put the same money into their autos as I pay for ONE clutch (and I paid for 3 2600s the season before last) and rip off some nice times. Russ coxe is running 9s in an aitomatic 2g, and others are doing well also, just not 9s. Partly because no one tries it. If you look at the 2 fastest 4g63 powered cars though, they are both autos. Quite different of course (2 speed powerglide), but fundamentally it says something about auto vs manual
Extreme used to blow 5 speed drivetrains up left and right. Shep does better, but its nice to be a tranny builder
But here I go reposting this stuff again.
I'm not saying autos are better than standards. Out of the box the standard cars are typically faster. But if you are going to rebuild/build anyway, the field is a little more level. I would REALLY like to build an auto car to see for myself how it does, but I doubt I will work up the motivation. I have the tranny in the garage just in case that day ever comes though