I've killed a Suzue Basic hub as it just couldn't cope with skidding. You are right that cheap hubs just can't take the abuse. But then no hub I know has been built with skidding in mind. Chubs maybe?

But this is the best hub failure I've seen: A Campy record track hub which is hardly a 'cheap' hub.

This image is from http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/record-track.html