Paul has a good point about the air filter even if it's absence had nothing to do with the current problem. Sooner or later, something undesirable will be sucked in, especially if one occasionally visits a dirt strip.

I was thinking along the same line as Jerry, and decided to put a screen in the induction air path.  My ram scoop is above the wing on Velocity, so hopefully no hard chunks are ever going to get in there; but the screen will insure nothing very large.  The screen is from a SS kitchen strainer, and is in the largest diameter section of the intake plenum at the scat hose connection (see attached pics).

Al