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ok all. I work with fluid flows for my job (yes air is a fluid). The longer the run of pipe feeding your throttle body, the higher your pressure drop will be. The more bends it takes the higher the pressure drop will be. However, I can't imagine that there is any significantly noticable power loss from these pressure drops. Next, the shorter you make the pipe, the closer you are to the engine heat. That is proven to be a bad thing. The cooler your air flow in is, the more dense the oxygen in the combustion which is where the power increase comes from. So by taking of the pipe completely, you are removing the restriction of the air filter (of which there should be minimal with a K&N) which is helping you get more air, however at the same time you are getting hot air which will have less oxygen.
That covers the air flow aspect. I think everyone else has explained pretty well why you don't want to remove the filter. Dirt is definately bad for the engine. However, I will say this, I would guess that you haven't done any damage to your engine if you did it only for short intervals. I also used to work on dirt track race cars with V8 chevy engines, and my dad builds them. He always tunes them, AT THE TRACK DURING THE RACES, with the filter off, while he is adjusting the squirters etc. on the carburator. So I'm sure your engine is safe. Just don't continue to do it.
Scott
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