You're really making a strong argument for character limits in posts!
There's one flaw in your argument, and that is equipment
does make a difference. What most people don't understand is equipment is a much smaller part of the equasion that skill is.
At a 1/12 race last year, I went through 3 qualifiers squeezing as much power as I could out of my motor and batteries. I had very consistent lap times, but those lap times were a second or better off the pace. For the mains I asked our local "pro" driver (not really a pro but he is by far the fastest) if could borrow one of his motors. The first thing he says is "are you sure it's the motor?" obviously using you argument. I said there's only one way to find out. So he gives me a motor from the bottom of his box that he thinks has 2 runs on it, and will probably do good. I put it in the car, and take my grid spot, 5th in the B. Being an older driver I know from 5th it better to let the 4 cars in front take themselves out than be involved in it yourself
When the mayhem cleared I was able to get by for 2nd. The racer in 1st was an A main driver having a bad day. So I settle in for the race, and I'm turning laps a half a second faster than I had all day! About 2 minutes from the end I get tangled in lapped traffic, and the 3rd place car gets by me. A lap later we go into the long back straight and I go past him like he's standing still! I hear him yell "where the heck did he come from???"
One of the most fustrating things in on road is no matter how many classes you have everyone ends up running stock! And with today's cars if you're setup is right you only need to lift a couple times during a lap. I remember running mod 1/12 in the mid 90's when you had to take care of your batteries during the race or you dumped. Figuring out a strategy that worked for you was part of the fun. When that went away, so did part of the soul of RC racing.
In today's world of instant gratification, trying to explain to someone you need to put in a bunch of practice before you can even be considered decent is like talking to a wall. All you ever hear is I want the fastest whatever. Why spend nearly a thousand dollars to race an RC car and not be good at it to start when for two hundred bucks you can get an RTF heli?