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The argument you're making about weight transfer to the rear tires during acceleration only holds up if you're able to actually get the car going forward in the first place at all, which is not necessarily the case when you're in snow.
What makes you say that the weight distribution is nearly 50/50 on modern day cars? My friend had a '99 Nissan Sentra, FWD and its weight distribution was closer to 70/30 unoccupied. My '90 Volvo 740 is 55/45 unoccupied (I actually checked at a weigh station.)
By no means am I saying that FWD is better than RWD, or even vice versa. I think it really depends on the situation. From a standstill in snow, FWD is better for the simple fact that the weight is all up front of the vehicle during the initial acceleration and it is less likely that you'll be stuck.
Also, it's a safety factor. In FWD, you understeer when you are powering out of a turn too hard. Most drivers can handle correcting understeer; all you do is slow down by releasing the gas. In RWD, if you accelerate too hard while turning, you oversteer, and you have to control by countersteering AND reducing your speed.
For a racing applications, RWD is better, I agree, but we're talking apples and oranges here.
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Ken
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'
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