I think people have the wrong idea.
If you have a car that is 20 years old with 10 miles on it driven by great great great grandma 5 feet to church on sunday once a week yes the Italian tune-up will probably help you and knock the "coal" out of the engine.
If you have a well taken care of engine, regular oil changes and drive it normally you will be just fine.
I agree. Years back when leaded gasoline, carburetors, and breaker points were all that existed, and cars were driven mostly in the city, especially in frigid weather, it became necessary now and then to, "get on it" and clear it out.
Back then, even under good, highway driving conditions, you were lucky to get 10,000 miles out of a set of plugs and points.... And they looked like the bottom of a Weber grill when you finally replaced them.
Today's cars are driven 10 times that distance, with the spark plugs showing zero issues. Modern unleaded fuels, coupled with computer directed fuel injection systems in today's vehicles, assure the engine is getting the correct air / fuel ratio regardless of temperature, RPM, or driving conditions.
Not to mention, with all of these new 8 and 10 speed automatic overdrive transmissions, modern engines are only turning 1,500 to 2,000 RPM. Even at highway speeds. And they run much longer without any issues.
With yesterday's carburetors, automatic chokes, and 3 speed automatics, this was not possible. And besides, most of these people that enjoy revving their engines, and playing Parnelli Jones, driving at high RPM, would do so anyway. Regardless of any excuse they make for doing it.