What is minimum electrical required to start my car?

In all my many hours of research last night... I am going to check out the distributor... when nephew drove it away(went 8 blocks and parked it) it was on gas can and hot wired to coil from battery... he might not of unhooked it... saw where if that is left attached for more than 15 minutes without it running it could burn up the distributor... guessing he might have done that... gonna check distributor later when I get the chance