I’ve ridden one of the old slingshot MTB’s, kinda odd feeling, but that was me coming from a fully rigid bike, so anything other than that felt pretty odd.
I did own the slingshot BMX, that was great! Preload on the start gate and fire out as soon as it drops. Unfortunately my legs back then weren’t that quick so I had difficulty keeping the speed up! Ok, I was just a bit rubbish on a BMX race track despite getting a good gate.
Didn’t notice any other advantage with the BMX, it was interesting to get used to the compression in the jumps, and lifting the front wheel over speed jumps required finesse.