@FDK: I wouldn't put it quite like that. I seriously doubt you will kill your esc just bc you run zippies. I'm sure Patrick is right that the failure rate is actually quite low. I have run cheap packs in all the various 1/8 BL and other vehicles I've had over the last few years and have yet to kill one of them. Just be careful with them and have a temp gun handy to watch things until you get the system setup right and reliable.
Over geared speed runs, loose slippers, towing and WOT in sand are things that kill BL fastest.
But yes, you do need to know what you are doing, and the manuals and LHS are very little help. Its said to use common sense, but these big and powerful BL 1/8th systems are not that common yet, so few have much experience, and some have little sense. When it doubt, treat it like a $1K truck and don't abuse it (despite what OEMs are telling you to do with it.)
Otherwise, I'm not going to push this point forever. One gets my point and agrees with it or doesn't. In my experience, there are few people who know how these things really work, few that have used them, and so good info is a bit scarce. Even on the internet. The people at my LHS knew nothing of BL aside from helis and some planes, but never about larger cars. When in doubt they went by website info or manuals (later on when the VXLs came out and whatnot.)
Sort of like this comedy of errors. So many wrong theories and info its a bit funny, but I see the RCM crew was there to jump in and help out. At my LHS, they would ask me if I was around and I could talk to customers better than they could. It wasn't uncommon to see some parent or guy buy a truck, not know how to run it, constantly going back for repairs/parts, get pissed and become a former customer.
Furthermore, how many RC mag articles have we seen now that have totally wrong/misleading info? They use batts totally undersized for the job. Look at even the Flux review in Xtreme RC this month. They used 3200 or 3600 lipos for the 6S testing. Runtime a whopping 7mins. Great return on a $1k investment. Watch out for the nitro convert stampede. How long do you think those batts would live like that? No rationale to why those batts were chosen. Not a terrible review tho. Compare that to the Fine Design LST done a while back using a 4S 3200 lipo pack. Did 50mph for 6 glorious minutes, and the lipo pack was too hot to hold when it came out the truck. But it kicked ass and was only $1200. 0_o And these are supposed to be the guys teaching people stuff.
I think a good and detailed BL primer would be of great help to someone just jumping into large scale BL, either new to RC, nitro converts, or someone who just saw it in a mag and got pumped. TRX gives a whole DVD on breaking and tuning a nitro motor with their RTRs, as they know plenty of n00bs buy RTR kits and don't want pissed off people wanting replacements on broken parts b/c they didn't know what they were doing yet. BL is just as complicated, and you need to know what to look for and troubleshoot and what to change when. Doesn't need to be a PhD course, but at least BL 101. A.) Battery selection. B.) Gearing C.) Temperatures D.) Troubleshooting & Maintenance