Fast way of taking down the Christmas tree

A very good friend of mine that I worked and raced with had a front engine big block Chevy dragster with a clutchflight transmission. No radiator so he would drain and fill the block with water every pass. Well he forgot to put the line going to the catch can back in the catch can so when he dropped the clutch you can guess what happened. Yep, he took out the tree and ended our day of racing.
I think both I witnessed were busted axles off the line. One was a umtr car, and you know how hard they come out!