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catback, that's speaking to debris piles and digging in, not the underlying traction. When the surface itself has poor traction a buildup of debris in front of the tire is often better, and locking up the tire is how it's generated. This was especially true with early ABS. Ice, well that's pretty much anti-gravity. Assume the position and enjoy.
I think there's a bit of talking past each other going on here. I'm sure you guys have driven many vehicles at many speeds (another track junkie here - but I'm not Schumacher, are you?) I haven't seen enough reality enter into the examples however. It's not very useful to assume track environments and full attention for 30minutes of 9/10 driving beyond theory and absolutes. It doesn't help a discussion about averages and daily driving which I believe has to enter into any discussion about feature benefits for daily drivers.
How about you're near the end of a two hour trip to Mom's. A beverage in one hand, a cell headset on an ear, a child in the back seat and wife next to you. It's evening and there's been light rain so surfaces are mixed wet & dry. Someone pulls in front of you. Oh shit. Baby screams, wife says something. Your briefcase flies onto the floor. Your mind races faster than any car. Nothing like good ABS to let you maneuver in these circumstances. (Old, skanky ABS on the other hand, that's just interesting enough to make you hesitate and wish you'd bought the BMW instead of the chevy.)
Okay, to averages. Now you are Schumacher, same situation minus the distractions. You make a masterful twitch or two of the wheel to initiate a drift round the miscreant and stop curbside on the outside corner. Now, the guy behind you has the distractions but doesn't have ABS, and you're Schumacher so he can't be... Don't you wish he had ABS?
These things always become debates about absolutes but in reality it freaking depends.
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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