Well, I swapped to another ballast and vroom, it fired up. Ran for a while, then shut it off and restarted several times. No prob. Eventually, I got it to not start again, this time, not even when in the start position. Nothing. I did notice that when I would turn the key off, the ignition would spark, as the carb would backfire from it. Eventually, after sitting, the motor fired up and ran some more. I went out this morning before work and tried to start it again. No luck and this time, it is back to running in the start position, like a traditional ballast issue. What the hell? Looks like I will have to replace another ballast before I even begin to troubleshoot more.

I did notice that while running, the ballast was very warm.