Some good advice in this thread.
The thing is however, that he had temps under control, pretty much, at the beginning! Sounds to me like a combination of wind and leaks, each making the effect of the other worse. Keep in mind also that without a drip pan, dripping grease probably just fueled the burn even faster, probably producing some flareups.
So no, you shouldn't need gaskets unless it's windy, etc. Mine will sometimes run away and sometimes perform as expected, with or without grease built up. So a Cajun door and some gaskets remain on my wishlist; bottom line, I need more reliability or I'll sell mine. Currently, I start with no more that 10 lit briquets. I don't ever want to have to take it apart and remove hot coals again.