A lakewood bell was the first thing I bought before I started racing back in the 60's. I ran for years with the stock flywheel before going to billet. The reason I bought the bell housing was that a guy I new that had a built small block chevy went to the track , had a clutch/pressure plate explode and it killed a spectator. The real kicker on that one was he had a lakewood that he could have put on but said it was to heavy. Another guy that I used to race with , also chevy, had one explode . Parts came up through the floor continuing through the dash and out the cowl. broke his foot and also pinned him in the car as the transmission tunnel peeled open it wrapped around his foot. Just remember that a stock aluminum bell housing isn't going to stop anything . You can do what you want but I would go with the bell housing first for safety and piece of mind.