more than an hour this morning trying to get the Cirrus Major started
I have no idea what kind of starter would be involved in this, so I don't have a comment relative to this event. However, in refering to the duty cylces of many common stater motors, "an hour" of trying to start an engine would equate to about 3 total minutes (appropriately separated by cooling periods). More than that and you're probably cooking the starter motor.
If you've run a charged battery flat trying to start, the starter motor is going to need the same time to cool, as the battery will need to recharge.