I ran 727's and 904's in both my Small blocks and big blocks for years. TCI brake, and Grinner brakes. Neil Chance 8" converter, TCI converter.
Duster was back half, 700HP ran a 14X32 tire.Always started my burn outs in 1st to get the tires turning, then shifted to 2nd. Never blew a trans.Period.
Start in any gear you want,never come out of the burnout under power, no matter what gear you are in.Do the burn out, let the RPM's come down, and roll out,drive out, anything but burn out of the water.
1000's of passes, with nothing fancy, except a bolt in sprauge.My buddy has built 1000's of 727's for drag racing with transbrakes over 25 years, never had a failure like any of these, so I agree with Rusty Rat.
Blankets may not contain a fire, which is real rare, but they will contain oil. I have used all. Any NHRA approved protection will work.
Dis-agree with MOPAR KID about the second gear burn out.