You definitely had a power surge. Short cycling/Rapid cycling will build up heat on the starting windings when it doesn't have enough time to bleed off and it will knock out your starting windings. It won't cause the bottom to explode like that. I've taking apart enough motors and put them back together to know what causes that 100%. If you overheat a motor it can cause the bottom or top seal to start leaking and you will see the thrust bearing material(black) making it's way out, but not explode.
Back in day they used diodes on the starting capacitor inside your control box for a 3wire motor, so it would bleed off the electricity faster, so it's ready for another start quicker.
Back in day they used diodes on the starting capacitor inside your control box for a 3wire motor, so it would bleed off the electricity faster, so it's ready for another start quicker.