There must be some methanol in the fuel to run properly. I understand that fuel is ignited by a catalytic reaction of the glow element material and the methanol not just the heat.

All glow engines will run quite well with just methanol and oil (gotta have the oil ) but to make the most of just methanol you need quite a high compression. Nitro adds power to an engine but it doesn't like much compression so because nitro is cheap in America and everyone wanted to use it, the manufacturers had to make engines with a fairly low compression. I've only used nitro once in the last 50 odd years but that was in a racing event so I can forgive myself there . So basically, nitro is just an additive to the most important part of the fuel which is methanol.

well now thats an eye opener! thanks! once in 50 years!!!! huh? you been at this a while wow!