Had a cotter pin shear once, on my Harry Quinn track bike. The left crank came completely adrift during a Nottingham Track League night. Probably due to an excess of hammering it in and damaging the thread.
Being a daft 14 year old lad, I tried to ride it back from the track down a slope to the car park, lost control and only stopped when I got to some railings.
First person to arrive and check if I was OK was Beryl Burton!