Scatter shield vs bellhousing

A high school friend of mine, one morning before class, was showing his *** in his 64 Fairlane, 289 Hi-Po, 4 speed, pulling hole shots in front of the high school. His fly wheel broke in half and the clutch and pieces of the fly wheel, came up through the floor and a piece came up past the firewall, shearing the throttle linkage and went through the hood. Some how the engine went wide open and before he could figure out what had happened the engine took a dump. No one got hurt, but it sure did attract a lot of the "wrong" kind of attention. Yep! Scatter shields and blankets come in handy.