ok - @180, your mention of clutch and @latemodel21 definitely helped me figure this out.

1. The ESP was coming on frequently even on light throttle. This caused the car to behave like a poor clutch launch
2. The jerking that resulted caused my foot to lift the pedal which worsened matters.
3. I chocked myself more firmly in the seat - and took off with a VERY light throttle - which worked, but sorta defeated the whole point of SRT6

So, I went for a joyride and turned the ESP off. That helped for sure.

Here's what fixed it. I moved the transmission control switch from S to W - The Eurocharged TCU code that is mapped to the W switch position, now, by default lets me treat the transmission as a clutchless manual, letting me decide when to smoothly upshift, while automatically downshifting while slowing for a (for instance) stop light. FINALLY the car feels smooth and agile on takeoff. It is still very easy to spin the tires, but since I'm controlling the shifts I can anticipate the drivetrain response to my inputs rather than reacting to whatever the ESP and autoshifting decides to do and thus creating a bad feedback loop.

The only thing I don't know yet is how the Eurocharged TCU would behave if I didn't upshift the trans in W mode at the redline. Anybody know the answer? I checked the Eurocharged website and they have no documentation on the TCU function/feature mods that I could find. My hope is that the W mode would auto upshift at redline...

The final thing I need to change is the tires to get good rubber to the road.

thanks SOO much for the insights folks!