no offense to what you said. i was just stating that resistance does make a difference.
there is a small diff if any between traxxas and deans but a huge diff between those and the tamiya's.
since you have been in the rc hobby since 1985 i am sure you have seen how the tamiya degreades after the 3rd time or so useing them.
try and check the resistance after about 20 times. it will be alot higher than the others after the same amount of time.
plus they will also have intermitant contact. that is not good.

i think the main reason for soldering stuff at the pro level is thats one more thing they dont have to worry about. like coming disconnected. plus im sure they dont have to pay for the wire or solder.

you also said a plug will not win you a race. but if it come undun it WILL lose you the race.

i think we do need to lay this to rest. we are just argueing now back and forth.

direct soldering is the best
deans
traxxas/sermow/losi
butt connectors
few other types of connection you can use
way down and the worst ever is the tamiya.

there is so little diff between deans/traxxas/sermow/losi resistance wise that either will do for the regular track racer and basher.

i think this sounds about right