The esc wont fry cos you didnt have no body on lol
i drift mine lots without the bodyset on,was the motor hot after? sounds like the ESC just gave up or maybe overgeared?
If the road was dry,no rain or snow falling i cant see how not running the body would kill off the ESC.

Check this vid no body running in dirty dirty crappy dust on a standard tam ESC
[link=http://media.putfile.com/dust1]http://media.putfile.com/dust1[/link]