Two more nails in the coffin:
1) I found the horsepower/compression-ratio graph and the increase isn’t 8% but 4%. So people are lowering their engines reliability for only .08 horsepower.
2) I found the formula for determining the bearing lifespan. (
http://www.amroll.com/bearing-selection-load-life.html) Also a graph showing that increasing the compression ratio from 5:1 to 6:1 increases the peak cylinder pressure 30%. Using that bearing formula I see that a 30% bearing load increase lessens the bearing life by 55%.
If someone has high compression but not overly high head temperature then it’s because their jetting is too rich for optimum power. If they lowered their compression and leaned the main jet then they’d have even more power and more reliability.