This sounds like it would be hotly disputed by almost anyone you said it out loud to, even if you said it 40 years ago.
I think you're expressing uninformed and uneducated opinions.
Even Debian's computer language benchmarks game showcases C consistently outperforming Rust, with some notable exceptions in some key benchmarks.
And Rust was not a thing 40 years ago.
Anyway, I think I proved my point with regards to the silly idea that performance is a decisive trait. You cannot have your cake and eat it, too.