Well in the desert racing series we just took over, the competitors pay more to compete, race 7 events in just our season alone, get at best 60 % payback and do it for the love of competition, and to hang with their desert dawg friends. Then again the VORRA series has been around for 27 seasons already, and is well established in NorCal and Nevada.
Money to race and travel is about the same, prized money is less, vehicles may cost as much to build, but probably less to maintain and fix.
I guess it just depends on what you want to do.
We believe and have had many discussions & polls on this board about fees, those that actually compete would rather see the entry fees a little higher than rock bottom. Low prices don't bring in more competitors, because those that use it as an excuse, will find another reason not to tear up their stuff anyway.
We all hope that someday the big outside the industry sponsors will step in with some bucks to make the big boys really go for it.
Rich