the pedal was probably caused by metals heating and expanding at differnt rates, i.e. the rod the butterfly is bolted to expands faster than the TB housing, reducing tolerances to 0

the clicking is the solenoid trying to do its job, the reason its louder is because you actually have enought juice to run it....no clicky would mean the 'noid was toast-- you probably toasted your starter, it happens alot on V engines due to space constriants and routing the exaust too close to the starter, especially if you have aftermarket headers, etc.

bring along a piece of wood and a hammer, if its still clicking, place the piece of wood on the starter then hit the block of wood(lightly at first) with the hammer and see if it frees it up, have a buddy try to start the car in between hits, if it doesnt work after 2-3 tries, hit it a bit harder once or twice, DO NOT go all out on it, you just want to shock the starter to get it to free up or move out of a dead spot, not dent it

many thanks for the replies so far.  I will be heading over there shortly and will give it a shot.

Yeah that's what I presumed, lol.  Well the trick didn't work anyway     So I'm gonna tow it to the house tomorrow and just replace the starter and go from there.

ok, time for final update, but I doubt it will be of use to anyone with similar circumstances...very odd.  Starter was fine.  Turned out to be a simple ground issue.  Not enough power was getting to the starter.  Not sure how the overheat affected it, but certainly relieved it was a simple fix   

Glad to hear it's good to go!