When people started asking about my bar position I looked back at my position back to when I started riding. Although I initially went with a higher saddle position (modeled after the high position of the US National Team just around the 84 Olympics, and the higher saddle heights the pros used like .... the guy on 180s that raced for Renault, dark hair, 55-ish cm frame), I found that the drops have always been at about the same height, for almost 40 years.
For me my sprint is my only tool so I have to be able to sprint well on the bike, and if the bars aren't at the right height relative to the BB then I can't sprint well. I tried going up 3 cm for a couple years but it was an absolute disaster, almost crashing a few times sprinting on my own, and dialing back my efforts when sprinting in an actual race.
My saddle height has come down a touch, maybe 5mm, maybe 8mm. My cranks went from 167.5 to 175s (contributing to the drop in height), my bars have come down a touch, partially because it was possible (previously I just dropped the stem to the headset), partially because my saddle dropped a bit.
In the old days I switched my bars out during the winter, a wider bar, one with squared off bends (can't sprint on them without bruising my arms). After missing a few key "truck drafts" I decided not to do that anymore. In the winter I also used Spinacci type 3ttt bars. And in races on and off I used Cane Creek Speed bars and Scott whatever bolt on drop bars (Drop ins?). The Cane Creek I'd use now if I could but they are now illegal. I last used them maybe 2015 or something.
I went to longer cranks as I got older. I don't know if they would have helped when I was younger. I do know that it's a huge difference going to 175s from 170s - I basically get ridden off the wheels, which is a problem I had when I was younger. This is based on a few different tries trying to use 170s unsuccessfully then going back to 175s. Each time I used the 170s for 6+ months (to get acclimated), and literally the day I went to 175s it was a thousand times better. There is a Tues Night Worlds crit series (permitted, official) and I was off the back quickly one week (170s) then sprinting for a place the next week (175s, essentially the same racers). I'm trying 170s again due to giving track a shot, been on them for 2 years now, not much racing (none successful on the road, but decent on the track), so we'll see what happens.
1984 (still figuring things out but I won the "field sprint" at the finish, out of maybe 8 or 10 riders). 170s, 40 cm bars:
1992 (higher saddle position). 167.5s, 40 cm bars:
2011 (longer reach by about 5-6 cm, custom frame, and my current position and current bike/s - I have two with the same geometry). 175s, 40cm bars:
2016 (in the red - 175s, 40 cm bars):
I don't have "positional" pictures after that I don't think, but it's the same bike, same stem. I've gone to 38 cm bars and 170 cranks, both on the red bike (pictured) and the same geometry black bike. Saddle went up 5mm and back a little bit, a few mm.
Black bike (175s, 40cm):
Red bike (175s, 40cm):
Contact points are basically the same as from about 1989, except the saddle is a bit lower now. But BB->bars is the same. Since BB height is basically the same across the board, you can compare where the drops are compared to the front wheel, and the drops have always been about the same height. The shallow drop bars (current ones) forced me to get a 3 cm lower stem. But it's the same position as before I went to shallow drop bars, it's just that the stem looks odd.