One other question that keeps going through my head is how would the nosewheel get crooked in the first place?  On takeoff, the wheel is straight, then it comes off the ground and extends into the centering cam.  Unless you had a crosswind takeoff with an extra bounce or something, I just don't see how it would be turned after takeoff.  And I would think that the air flow over the fairing would tend to weathervane the wheel straight in flight.  Joe's comment about the wheel straitening before the airplane would veer off the centerline makes sense to me too.

 

Maybe there was a left brake lock that released almost instantaneously, that kicked the plane to the left.

 

Mike