Just curious....can I flip the motor wires and run a reverse rotation (clockwise) and it have the same performance as it running counter-clockwise?

Yes....mine will run backwards just as fast as fwd.

all the hard work of running it is inside the ESC. that's one of the reasons they suggest you swap two wires if it's not running in the direction you need.

I'm toying with a project car that includes flipping the trans around 90o so it's a mid motor truck....why I was asking....

I have did mid motor conversions and i just drilled the hole for the topshaft on the opposite side then turned the diff around. Hope this helps.

It should as long as there isnt any timing in the endbell of the motor. then it could be affected slightly

Thought u couldnt time a brushless motor through the endbell unless your moving the sensor around

any thing that is sensored usually has a reverse direction function in the esc.(i know my novaks do) But non sensored motors without adjustable endbell timing are set at 0 deg. so they are neutral and will run and perform just as well in either direction. Especially mini motors such as mamba, tekin,and the ammo motors. In these systems timing is all taken care of via the software within the controller.
But if you try and swap the A and C wires on a sensored system you will get an error message from the esc (light blinks) indicating that it is wired wrong.

Also keep in mind that with sensored systems, even if you use the reverse rotation feature , if you have moved the mechanical timing on the end bell it WILL runn better in one direction than the other.I found this out because i usually run my 17.5's with the timing retarded to produce more torque and cooler temps for running dirt. Well I set up a new XBR speedo for a car and you could hear it was running faster in reverse than it would in forward.
so If you reverse direction on the motor remember that if you want to play with the mechanical timing for tuning that it is backwards
IE clockwise to retard, counterclockwise to advance when it is normally counter clockwise to retard and clockwise to advance.

Running reverse direction.....

If you are dealing with a SENSORLESS motor then the awnser is NO there is no difference.

If SENSORED then YES direction does matter because the motor sensors are timed, if you would like further proof then read the Tekin RS thread which explains that... almost no sensored motors have the sensor array timed at 0