I think what got me started on 2-stroke motors was the COX 049 model airplane my Dad got me fro Christmas one year. Nitro/caster oil.... What a smell!
I graduated to chainsaws when I was 16 and never looked back.
jerry-
I had a little Corvette with one of those in it you could run on a string. One time it started running backwards and when I let it down it broke the string and took off all over the place in reverse. It was fast too! Man I wish I had a movie of me chasing that thing down. I was maybe 10. Now I have over 80 chainsaws, 4 Toro two-stroke mowers, about a dozen trimmers, a bunch of blowers, a Sachs 6 hp wankel that runs on 50:1, and a 84 RX7.
I got the fascination bad!!!