There is no path from the battery to the distributor. There are two types of circuits in the Mopar breakerless distributor
The pickup coil can be considered in some manner as a tiny generator. It has a magnet and a coil, and generates tiny spikes which trigger the module to turn off the coil at the time the spark should happen
The distributor cap takes high voltage, low current sparks from the coil and "distributes" them to the proper cylinder.
WHAT YOU CAN BURN UP
If you hot wire a car, you might burn up the alternator field, and or the voltage regulator
You could burn up the BALLAST RESISTOR, and the ignition COIL. On an older car with breaker points you will likely ruin the BREAKER POINTS