Generally a LOT more than twice road speed for a dragster off the line, they actually go off the line with constant rear wheel speed (or even slightly falling speed) and the road speed comes up to meet the wheel speed.
I think it's related to your contact patch conjecture, and is cleaning and warming the rubber on the surface. Generally seems to be one revolution of the wheels before they hook up and go. They use semi-centrifugal clutches to achieve the effect, and it's considerably more effective than any traction or launch control system I've used once set up.
Not sure if it makes any differenct that they're not running on asphalt, or at least not as we know it.
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