Rather than get into the typical whizzing contest that always seems to result when mythology meets fact I'll just refer any of you who might be interested in a well researched article about lead additive in fuel to the Spring 2002 publication of "American Heritage of Invention and Technology"
There is an article about Thomas Midgley who discovered both lead additive (later trade named Ethyl) AND the refrigerant gas that became known as R-12/R-22 (trade name Freon).
This excellent publication is printed quarterly, and deals with a wide range of subject matter. You can get a sample issue or a full subscription on their web site
www.americanheritage.com . They also have excerpt articles from the printed magazine on the site, but the above referenced one is not one of them.
For the answers to some faq on racing gasoline go to
www.tgill.com/racing/faq.htm also
www.dragracingpinoy.com/tech_faq.html (question titled How Much Octane?) for some comments by Tim Wusz who (due to mergers and acquisitions) now works for Phillips Petroleum. I've worked with Tim and he knows more (factual information) than anybody about racing gasoline. If you're really sincere about learning the reality of gasoline performance his email address is
twusz@ppco.com. He can probably steer you to some factual literature.