Not in single player though. No matter how good you are, no matter how far behind you left the CPU after you hit them, the CPU will always speed boost in order to hover around you and try to steal 1st place. It's actually a matter of luck if they don't steal it so you need to have a last minute item to make sure they don't.
There is no other Mario Kart game that does this. Sure, in later entries the CPU will throw a blue shell at you 100% of the time but you can still win only with your skill. You can either stay at close second place to avoid it or let it hit you and reclaim your position. And if you are good enough, you should have enough distance to tank the shell without losing first place. Because if your driving skills are high enough you can even leave the CPU a long distance behind, since the rubber banding isn't as strong (but it's still there). You can basically win without ever using any items most of the time, by just your skills alone.
You can't do that in Mario Kart 64, which makes it the least dependent on driving skills actually. Because skill can't help you beat the cheating CPU without items.
Yes, they did this so high skilled players aren't bored when playing the single player mode. Some people may prefer this but it doesn't change the fact that a high skilled player will never be able to hold distance from the CPU.