Starting the engine(s) even in a propeller-driven airplane used to be a big deal, too. Hell, I'm sure that even starting a car engine back in the day was a much more complex affair (than simply pushing a button like it is today).
I've personally dealt with the engine in a Cirrus SR-22 just refusing to start. It was at operating temp on a hot day. We flew in to an airport with the plan being to stop just long enough to fill the fuel tanks and drain our own tanks. The engine was off for about 15 minutes when we went to restart.
We experienced vapor lock, ended up flooding the cylinders with fuel, and at that point we just had to wait. After about 10 minutes we were able to get the engine started. There are no electronics controlling this engine, everything is controlled by the pilot.
FADEC (Full-Authority Digital Engine Control) has slowly started making its way into the small piston market over the last decade, but even with that, it's still controlling engines that are fundamentally the same designs flying in the 50s.
If it backfired. I got thrown over a Studebaker that way when I was like 8; I wasn't big enough to turn the handle by hand so I was jumping on it. It usually worked tho.