EEO
Kwisatz Haderach
If you want to continue the analogy, playing for speed might involve trashing your car the moment you buy it by running it faster than it's supposed to go down a racing track. Playing for score might involve keeping your car well serviced for ages, then suddenly trashing it by driving it up a mountain that's far steeper than it's designed to go up. Neither would be seen as good examples of looking after a car.
Of course, I agree. Your analysis goes one step beyond what I was talking about. My point was: in military victories, playing for score is more difficult than playing for fastest finish. In other words: the current score formula is more relevant than a formula based only on speed for military victories.
But I'm sure you have not missed that I think the current formula can be improved ...