I agree with a lot in this post. Nice work. I'll add some other thoughts that may help.
The most basic principal you need to keep in mind relates to physics and relates to Newtons third law - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you run you have a certain amount of force you can generate through a combination of your mass, gravity and the amount of force your muscles can generate. The more efficient you are at getting as much of that force into the ground, the more the ground will return to your mass and the faster you will run.
This is important because any type of cushioning fundamentally is detrimental to performance. Sure, we wouldn't be able to run without cushioning because at some point friction, shock etc would accumulate and it would be uncomfortable to run. It's the reason why almost no sprint spike in the world has any type of cushioning. It's why if you had to sprint 100 yards on the pavement you would be fine, but running a mile might give you issues. Simple rule of thumb is that a shoe should only be as cushioned as to get you to your target distance without any pain. Anything beyond that is inefficient. Now, we started off with cushioning in the industry that was very good at dissipating shock (PU) and that evolved to EVA. Now we have a generation of super foams (Pebax/TPU based) that are very efficient at both transferring your force to the ground (because they compress easily and quickly) and getting it back to you (through high surface tension and elastic resiliency), but never forget that a track surface does exactly this for you as well.
This is where I agree with the above post - the current Victory is really not a great shoe for top end performance. It is drastically over-engineered and the key value proposition of it (the air bag) is completely unnecessary. For the short distances it's intended for there is no way this shoe is an efficient force transferrer and I would doubt the alleged "energy" return offsets this - along with the added inefficiency of weight by way of the part itself, glue etc etc. It's a clever marketing ploy because of the connection to the Alphafly, but that's all. The OG Vic is far superior. Lighter, stiffer, more efficient.
I also agree that the Dragonfly is a better and more versatile spike. The best part about that is that it's most like older tech shoes - it's foam and a plate at minimal weight. Instead of energy dampening EVA, the more elastically resilient zoom X foam provides enough cushioning at a lighter weight and better energy return. Because of this they were able to create curvature in the pebax plate that allows the same C.O.G/Mass forward propulsion as the road product, which is a nice bonus - it's like wearing an aggressive sprint geometry shoe in a cushioned product suitable for a half marathon on the track.
Don't be fooled by carbon fiber. 1) it's not new - it's been in track product for decades 2) a lot of people point to people flexing carbon fiber, seeing the explosive return and then believing this return is what will happen when you run. This is completely wrong. The only geometry this would happen with is a geometry similar to a leaf spring, similar to what you see in a Paralympians "blade". Take a ruler or something flat and bend it and see how and in what direction it rebounds. Now think of your your foot works and ask if in any way does that apply. It doesn't - carbon fiber is a lightweight but highly stiff element that reduces joint work and transfers force efficiently. It's not a spring unless in a reverse C shape which is currently illegal. Modern PA nylons and even Pebax with glass or carbon content reinforcement are actually superior because they approach the stiffness (Youngs Modulus) of layered CF and are far easier to mold into favorable geometries (like curves) - which is why the Dragon Fly uses an injected CF reinforced plate and mic drop, so do the 4, NXT, Alphaflys (cheaper, easier to get to the right shape and basically the same properties). Carbon Fiber gets d$cks hard and so does "air bags" which is all a fantastic placebo effect that don't get me wrong works really well - just don't be too fooled by it.
Best spike for 800-1500 - get an OG Vic (or even better get yourself a Jasari from the mid-90s ;)) - best spike for anything upwards use the Dragonfly.
Or use this info and try another brand - plenty of good stuff out there.