wrong on the long intake runners making more torque on a small block chevy. Go look closely at some of the street and race manifolds. Notice that the manifolds made for idle - 5500 rpms have short, curved intake runners and a dual plane plenum design. These intakes make low end torque.
Intakes made for 5000 rpms - 8500 rpm's (or more) have straight, long runners with an open plenum design. These intakes make more power at high rpms and are pretty much useless until you get into the suggested rpm range where the intake flows best.
If you run an intake manifold on a small block chevy that has long, straight runners on the street, the car will be a pain in the neck to drive in traffic because the low end torque needed to drive normally won't be there. On a street engine you want to make most of your power on the low-mid range where the engine will actually be in that rpm range. it's doubtful that most street engines will see 6000 - 8500 rpms constantly.
On a drag race motor you want to make most of your power midrange-top end. you want to kill off some of the low end torque so you don't burn the tires off the line. You can help the engine get into the rpm range faster with a stall speed torque converter.
Idle-5500 rpm Chevy Small Block, For Idle to 5500 RPM Street-Driven Performance
5000-8500rpm Chevy Small Block, For 5000 to 8500 RPM High-Performance Engines
a 2 stroke engine is a different animal and it may work opposite for them...i'm not sure on that.