Re Dumb??? Huh??
Then call me dumb. A couple pedal pumps on a cold engine dumps raw fuel into the manifold. Both the accelerator pump and the choke enrich the air fuel mixture for the cold engine. With sufficient compression and spark, Result is usually a running engine.
Reciprocating engine aircraft do the same thing to start a cold engine....except they often use a small hand pump called a "primer". Two or three good pumps of prime enriches the air fuel mixture in the manifold and the cold engine usually starts. Must have been some dumb aircraft engineer figure that out. I tested this theory on the trusty Cessna 182 last weekend at 10 deg F., sure enough it started.
