At first, I was a little bit skeptical about the benefits of a ski-out
start, but the most recent post may have changed my mind. The idea of
a little bit of immediately-pre-racing warm up really appeals to me,
though I do think it makes the organizers job a fair amount harder...
The temptation to move up in the group would definitely be there.

If it is a classic race, or if the first k or so is flat, why not set
tracks, pretty tightly spaced beside each other so that it would be
very difficult to pass? Also, if the speed is kept relatively low I
don't think there would be too too much carnage in that first k. Some
kind of seeding would be nice, but not entirely necessary, in my
opinion. What is the distance of the race?

Its definitely an interesting idea to think about, even if its not
entirely feasible for you yet, and it might even attract a few extra
people out of novelty.