And... I did race against Frenchy LeBlanc once at Pomona. As usual I was wearing Levis and a t-shirt, like most other bike guy at the time. I got less than a fourth of the way down the track when I blew up. I think this was the time I had my hand on the gear shift, which was a short lever on the transmission - we used a foot clutch. The guys watching said the pieces of the motor looked like a swarm of bees had attacked me. It took off a small piece of my thumb (the one on the gear shift), blew off the fuel lines, drenched my Levis with fuel and caught on fire with (invisible) flames from the Methanol and Nitro. I coasted to the side a few feet from the spectators and yelled "fire". The spectators looked puzzled. I held on to the handlebars since I didn't want the bike to fall over and make the fire worse. In the meantime my Levis also caught on fire. A guy showed up with a fire extinguisher and started spraying the bike. I yelled "no, no... my pants", which were getting hot. He got the idea and sprayed me. I never dropped the bike, my thumb healed up and I can't even see the scar. I think the Levis were toast, though.