It was what the class ran. It was called the STAR class. Stood for STAbilized Racing. It started with a 10-HP Tecumseh motor and it was set up to run methanol. Yes, I do think methanol in that particular engine was faster than gasoline, but it was more expensive, and it took more maintenance than gasoline at the time.
But, we also had kids classes running gasoline, and several two-stroke classes, some with transmissions (like regular motorcycle engines with built-in transmissions) and one class that ran a screaming banshee of a two-stroke that was a direct drive with no transmission. I can't remember if they had clutches, but I'm guessing they did. This was 20 years ago, and I'm certain classes have changed.
Methanol (nitromethanol) racing fuel actually contains only half as much energy per lb. as gasoline, but it mixes with air at 4:1, where gasoline mixes with air at 16:1. That means you can dump 4 times as much into the cylinder for the same amount of air and the net result is twice as much energy from combustion.