To add to Silvaire comments it also lead to a healthy after market in bespoke crankshaft manufacture. These days with so many turbo and supercharged engines you can buy 'off the shelf' high spec crankshafts and conrods for a wide variety of performance cars and bikes.
Built up cranks are a cheap and easy way to make them but obviously as you increase the power you approach their ability to withstand the forces. Get any sort of malfunction and things tend to slip, typically writing off the whole engine.