Phenolic piston transfer plenty of heat and are a known failure point on a track car that goes for any type of endurance race length. I've holed Phenloics on Neons during races and track days will disintegrate the pistons fairly quickly. Common Neon swap for Showroom Stock cars was Titanium Pistons.

The Brick could survive because it just didn't produce much brake temperature. The stock semi metallic pads you got from the dealer couldn't get hot enough to destroy the piston. Put on a set of race pads and it would have been a different story.