Some people.. can tear up an anvil.
Shock loads, IMO, brake things, not so much the torque. Look at all those weak little parts in an auto trans, 727 with 904 guts behind a Hemi S/S, quite a bit of HP-Torque to run 8.15 with a 3200 lb car. Oh yea, it's got a converter to soften the hit, like a soft clutch I guess.
A friend runs a comp car, 6 speed. He "sets" the clutch so there's very little rpm drop (slips) between shifts. I've heard the sound recording from in the car, you never hear the shift. Now he does have the good trans, but nothing in the drive line has broken in all the years other than clutch wear-replacement.
700 HP and 3500lb cars, something better slip.