We were planning to use a warden originally,
but it was brought to my attention that the gap is probably a little tight to play music on one for extended periods. The first vid was shot before we made the change.
5,000 watts should be fine for very short demos and burps. Input voltage and gains will be kept very low so that nothing has to be overstressed. Just because we have that much power available doesn't mean we have to use it all the time.
Originally we were going to run one large amp, but it wasn't available in time to make the show. These videos where shot across a two week period, and sometimes plans have to change to accommodate conditions.
The car already runs mid 10's on DOT approved tires, and is easily capable of 9's on race gas. In order to meet the minimum weight requirements for some local racing classes, and to run conventional street tire shootouts, we would have to put at least 200 lbs of ballast into the back of the car anyway. Basically we opted to install a functional audio system, instead of bolting steel weights in the rear bumper. It's a stock style suspension drag car setup for radials, not a road race car. We want as much of the weight in the rear as possible.
Here's a video of it on street tires against a 2003 Supercharged Cobra. It has 220 lbs of ballast in the back. No transbrake, rolling off the line just above idle:
YouTube - 2003 Cobra Terminator vs. Turbo foxbody
...and it's already an open 4" downpipe, so the exhaust note isn't going to get any louder. Maybe you might put glasspacks on your sweet ride, but around here glasspacks are reserved for flatbed farm trucks and redneck '79 transams.