Wedding stats to races is in fact the only thing that actually does make sense, though of course it isn't political these days, nor is it newbie friendly. But if you step out of D&D for a moment and consider, say, Star Trek, then please don't tell me that you think Klingons and Humans should have the same base stats. Please don't tell me Klingons and Ferengi should have the same base stats.
Just a rapid research and I can find that in the last ttrpg about star trek species have stat bonuses too, but these can be easily compensated by "environment", "upbringing", "academy" and "career events", making them just a drop in the ocean between all the stats you can distribute on your character.
If 5e implemented such an elaborated system to make every class work thanks due to bonuses coming from class, background, ideals and whatnot, something that has been implemented by Pathfinder2ed, sure racial stats would be cool, but at the moment they are just a nuisance and an arbitrary limitation.
I suppose, at least you're honest about hating world building affecting combat for the sole reason of minmaxing. You'd dislike Warhammer so much.