I was recently driving my Beck spyder. I was stopped at an intersection waiting to make a left. I grabbed the gear lever and pulled it into first. The lever popped and came off in my hand. I quickly looked around and realized that I was only a couple of hunderd yards from my friends shop where I could do a quick weld/repair. The only problem was the car was still in neutral. 
      
Without thinking (source of all these stories) I jumped out and walked around back. I reached under the car to grab the shifter rod on the trans. I figured I would just put it in first and drive to the shop in one gear. I grabbed the lever and found first by forcing it passed the closed clutch. Well if you have followed the sequence of events you will notice the absence of the "turning off the ignition switch" step. You guessed it, the car jumped forward, the driver (me) left laying in the intersection looking and feeling like an idiot. 
      
Lucky for me the car stalled and didn't hit anything. It did however have enough momemtum to roll into the middle of the intersection which was now open to crossing traffic. You can't imagine how lucky i am that it didn't get hit.  I'm still not sure how this happened, you would think that the hot exaust in my face would have tipped me off that the car was running, or even the large grind when I started screwing with the shift rod, alas i learned my lesson....