Some things have stumped me about running shoes.
1) Why do almost all shoes separate the heel and forefoot with a plastic bridge? The human foot doesn't do that unless you have REALLY high arches.
2) Why do almost all shoes put rubber in a U-shape around the back of the heel? The only reason I can see is to cut down on weight.
3) What is the purpose of a stiff heel counter? Spikes and flats work just fine without a hard plastic insert in the heel.
And don't y'all go minimalist on me either. Plenty of flats and racers have these features too! Not just the beefy trainers.
From the looks of things on nikespeed.com, it looks like heel lift started to be introduced in the early 80s (check out the '83 waffle racer), and toe spring cropped up soon after. IF you think today's shoes' heel lifts are bad, check out the '86 sock trainer! The first time a "heel U" appears is in the '88 duellist, but it's on and off for a while. The plastic bridge between forefoot and heel first appears (I think) in the '95 air streak. Is this a relatively new development, or is Nike just not showing its normal trainers on the website?