Whoever said torque was a better meter of a cars potential than horsepower needs a lesson in physics. You could have a motor with 1,000 ft-lb of torque that could barely even move a car, if that torque was generated only at extremely low rpm (like 50-100 rpm). On the other hand, a car with 1,000 hp is gonna fly, no matter what rpm it generates that power at, you can find a gearset to make use of it. Using a single number is woefully inadequate, but if you have to use only one number, us horsepower. Graphs are much better than numbers though.

Personally, I like high rpm's as an answer to producing horsepower more than displacement, because it allows for smaller engines, which can be positioned for a low center of gravity and low moment of inertia. None of that has much to do with running a 1/4 mile though.