Why do rip blades rip faster? They have fewer teeth than combination
or general purpose blades, so the resulting gullets are larger. But I
don't see most people feeding their stock that fast. So it doesn't
seem like waste removal via the large gullets can be that big a plus.

I would normally think that more teeth would = more cutting would =
faster cutting.

Anyone have any good links to articles about blades and tooth angles
and such?

Oh, and if a rip blade rips faster, will it also cross-cut faster?
Ignoring quality of cut, of course.