[Shotimes] Tranny, Computer or Both? ATX

[Beisler Jonathon]

I apologize for the length of this....
Funny thing happened on way home yesterday.  I had an emergency with the wife,
so I was driving, shall we say aggressively to get home.  You know, a lot of
hard acceleration after braking around morons doing 50 in a 70, etc.  Right
after I got on the interstate, I noticed a burning smell that went away, so I
didn't think much of it.  Anyway, about 2/3 of the way home, my O/D light
started flashing.  Kept driving, cause I had to get home.  I get off the
interstate and I'm at a stop light and the smell returns.  So, I'm hoping to
get home, but as I pull out into traffic and make a right turn, the engine
sputters, dies and I'm SOL.  But I get to coast into a parking lot.  Try to
start the car again, it fires up, dies.  So I'm thinking WTF, tranny shouldn't
be connected to the engine like that.  Engine should still run, even if I
can't get forward movement, right?  I checked the fluids, everything is coming
up roses, even the color of the tranny fluid is the same pink red that it's
been since I flushed it about two and half years and 43,000 miles ago.
Get a ride home, deal with the emergency and sit thinking about this car.
I go out later and try to start the car with my neighbor.  No fuel pump, but
great cranking.  So we check the switch in the trunk and sure enough, it's
been tripped.  Push it back in, fire it up, drive it home with no problems,
but that O/D light is still flashing.  Once I got it home, I unplugged the
battery for a little bit and then started the car back up, took it for some
spirited driving.  No more flashing lights, nothing.  Today, I drove it to
work and have had no problems.
Now I'm sorta flummoxed by all this.  Will the tranny throw codes?  And is
there anything that could cause the fuel switch to trip?  It's purely
mechanical and related to an impact, right?  Do they ever fail?
A little history on the tranny.  It has slipped under WOT from 1st to 2nd, but
not always for the three years that I have owned it.   My understanding of
auto trannys is that they don't fail gradually over three years.  So, I
thought maybe it had a shoddy rebuild?  It also sometimes will, in the
immortal word of Chevy Chase, "act surprised" and not shift up from 1st to 2nd
after slowing to go around corners, etc. which causes the engine to race.
Almost like it sits in neutral and "takes a holiday." But it's done this for
three years.  All other shifts up or down are great.  Could this be a computer
issue, or is it more likely a transmission problem?
Any ideas, suggestions?
Thanks,
JB