We posted this in STREET and RACE so EVERYONE would see the sale price, not as a recommendation for use in 'street' cars.
I'd agree that 20W-50 is
probably too thick for Alaska in the winter (
or Iowa, for that matter), there are plenty of engines that will happily tolerate the difference and will have better oil pressure at idle when hot. Is that pressure necessary? Who cares - it's the
owner's preference.
We run 20W-50 in our race engines (.003-.0035+ bearing clearances) and older 'well-worn' engines (150k miles plus). I have a 350k mile 1970 C10 that likes the thicker stuff, too, although I'd never start it up in really cold weather.
Not because of the oil, but because the heater is fairly weak. 
We use 10W-30 or 40 for tighter or fresher engines - they have much smaller clearances, so it makes sense. When Amazon puts 10W-30 on sale , we'll post it here, too. Then you oil 'thinnies' can stock up, too.
And on our older stuff that's still got pretty tight tolerances, we use a hybrid mix, as
HotRodDan mentions. Somewhere between 1:4 and 50/50 depending on the season.
The extra ZDDP in VR1 won't hurt anything and can only help with cam/lifter longevity. And (
to start another discussion) we still use STP Oil Treatment in certain circumstances. Again -
our preference.
If you use thinner oil and like it, great. If you use thick stuff and like it, save some money.
Good luck to all!