I just bought a ceiling fan and wired it without a ground wire, it smells funny and the top side of the motor is getting hot, do I need a ground?

Something may be wrong. Did you remove the shipping stop?

The ground wire is not necessary for the fan to operate. It's there for your protection.

If the ground is in the box and the box is metal, there are grounding clips, grounding pigtails with screws and Ideal Industries Term-a-nut that can be used to aid in grounding.

Motors always get hot.