I heard that too, been the going story for a long time.
I am not sure I buy that it worked, but it could have certainly be intended to do that.
One thing I never did was look at where the long runners were in the firing order, could have easily been to make a broader torque curve too. Some long runners, some short runners for a flatter but broader usable curve. If they were in order, that wouldn't jive, but if it worked out that it coincided with firing order, it would make sense