PB,
I can't speak to the Fantoms quality, I see many of the kids on this board love it.
I ran a cvr in my GT for about 1.5 years racing maybe 2-4 times a month, The engine much like it's Airplane cousins, it is a quality product. They tune well and put out plenty of power to be competitive on a track. If you don't get them hot, they'll last a loooonnnggg time
I'm currently running a MT12 in mt mst1. For around $140, I think they are the best engine for the money. If you could fit that into your budget, you won't be sorry.

Something else to consider while setting up a ST for racing. You don't really need a "Crazy Fast" motor to do well on the track. I see many of the best guys at our track running just cheap OS CV .12s. They tell me that they like the less powerful engine because it easier to control the truck on the small track. If you put the most powerful engine and can't keep the wheels from spinning out, what's the point.

Secondly,
If you are new to nitro car engines, they take a little time to get used to tuning. I too came to nitro car racing with over 25 years of flying airplanes. I thought to myself. no biggie to tune a .12 engine. The little buggers just don't work the same without that prop. It took me a couple engines burning up and buying a temprature gun, before I got the experiance to be able to tune an engine well.

My point? you may want to invest in a entry leval engine to just get your feet wet, Like you said in the post above, you may get bored half way through the season. A cheap $80 os cv .12 might be the right thing for you just to get started.

good luck