Weird Non-Start Condition (automatic)

[livewirevoodoo]

Drove about 40 miles back n forth to hartford today... got to my home area, pulled into a gas station, fillied up and BAMM - nothing. All the idiot lights came on, car wouldn't crank or anything. Got a tow. At home I checked everything I could think of - starter, alternator, relays, fuses, speed and reference sensor... Everything checked out, but still no good.

For the hell of it, I decided to pull the plastic base to the shifter and look at the wiring there. The top red wire (pictured below) was disconnected - presumable from putting the car in park at the gas station. Plugged it back in and back up and running. I was 5 minutes from calling it quits and having it towed to my mechanic tomorrow.

My question is WTF does this show stopping wire do?

In picture below, the wire is the top thick red & black striped one plugging into the topmost spade center-right.

[carsontc]

wierd since I answered a similar question from scotman944 just minutes ago...

so I'll just cut & paste (thanks for the pix)

the gear selector 'interlock' switch has a pair of red/black wires that must connect to each other (through the switch) to supply 12 volts to the starter.

interlock switch is mounted to the automatic's gear selector bracket.

[livewirevoodoo]

I think we cross posted (my question here and you're answer to scotman944) within the same couple of minutes.

Thanks Tom.