Does anyone have experience with this? Would it be advantageous to launch with the parking brake to pre-load the suspension and eliminate weight transfer or would it hurt for the same reason? If it makes a difference, the car in question is heavy, powerful, has an open diff, badly worn shocks and an overall soft suspension.
auto trans I assume?
I'd just use the foot brake (especially if that is what you are used to as a driver) for consistency and the fact that you will be much more sure of them releasing properly. You also run the risk of dragging the car forward and DQing if you are only using the parking brake.
I think either way you will load the suspension a bit before launch.
p.s. just try it a few times. If it is too heavy and powerful and shocks are too blown, even a little bit of a brake drag launch might just spin the tires. Any tire spin is wasted time, and reducing spin should be the highest priority.
if you want to load the suspension then you could do handbrake, stall up, apply brakes hard while still stalled up and release the handbrake. That should keep your suspension loaded and give you a foot brake to work with.
rental cars taught me that 
In past vw's of the wayercooled pursuasion I got my best 60ft times out of a sub 4k launch that gave about a full rotation before launch. Never found a use for braking unless it was to load the front suspension while autocrossing. Can't speak for your situation but $15 usually gets you a night at the strip to try a bunch of different techniques and see the 60ft times...
I did this when I drag raced my turbo'd Swift GT. Ebrake up, sweet spot on revs was 2500, let the clutch drag then at the green dump the clutch and floor the throttle. It took a bunch of passes to figure out the sweet spot (including tire pressure) but it dropped my et's overall almost .3 in the 1/4.
I have a lot to say, but want to know manual vs auto before I go on a typing spree.. and are you worried about wheel spin after launch (on 1-2, 2-3 shifts) my answer will change a bit. Also, where are you launching, drag strip, autoX, etc.
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