Car racing is expensive. Keeping costs in check is a goal and challenge for many organizers who seek to create a competition that won’t become a race to find the biggest checkbook and allows driving talent to make the biggest difference. It’s also an unfortunate reality that whenever fame, money and ego are on the line, there are some who will stretch or even break those rules to find an advantage. One way to address both issues is by adopting strict rules around what engines racers can use and the modifications that can be done to them. Some organizers take this a step further by mandating a “spec” engine that must be used by all competitors, essentially making the engine a plug-and-play unit with limited options to tune it for an additional performance advantage.

That’s were Quicksilver® comes in, with a series of circle track engines offering the same quality, reliability and performance that made its marine engines legendary on the water. Fun, fair and affordable best describe Quicksilver’s approach to building circle track engines, which are designed for racers on a budget for whom cost and performance are equally important factors.

That combination helped propel Joe Hamm into the winner’s circle against racers with bigger budgets but not a greater desire to win. Hamm, of Dover, Tennessee, won the 2022 Quicksilver Racing Series Street Stock class championship at Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee, after making the decision mid-season to switch to a Quicksilver circle track engine in his Street Stock racecar.

Hamm is a classic example of a hard-working grassroots racer who works a 9-to-5 job to support his family and side jobs to fund his racing. He works fulltime for the state of Tennessee and after hours mows grass and sells firewood to go racing.

“You got to do what you got to do when you have a race car,” Hamm said in a recent profile by racing website Outside Groove. “Most of the teams I run against got more money than I do. We’re just doing what we can do.”

The Street Stock rules allow racers to choose between either a sealed Quicksilver engine or GM Performance engine with a limited series of modifications. After making a series of changes to shock absorbers, weight balance and other chassis adjustments throughout the season, Hamm said the final piece of the puzzle fell into place after he made the decision to replace the engine in his Street Stock chassis with a Quicksilver 357CT circle track engine.

“When I put the Quicksilver 357CT back in, that when’s I won,” he told Outside Groove.

Quicksilver circle track engines incorporate many of the same components and attention to detail as its marine engines, including its own custom cast engine blocks and cylinder heads as well as performance parts from other leading manufacturers. After assembly and testing, Quicksilver circle track engines are factory sealed to ensure they can’t be modified, upgraded or tampered with, giving racers like Joe Hamm the confidence and peace of mind that comes with having competitive power lap after lap, race after race.

Follow Joe Hamm on Facebook at Hamm Racing.