Yeah, Joe is right. A turn key funny-car is not that much. But when you start figuring out what you will need in spares, that number changes every round.
Then you figure crew, hotels, fuel for transporter, someone to clean out the transporter all winter, meals, plane tickets, rental cars, tow vehicles, etc. That is where much of the cost comes into play.
New pro stock car rolling with all the tricks. $105,000
Trans, third member, computer, driveshaft, and all the others to make it run $25,000
Engine purchased that will qualify is a tough one, because no one will sell one. Probably around $200,000 if someone would. If you did not want it to qualify, around $30,000. So Figure $300k for pro stock. That is probably the highest of the classes, because your genius is in the heads, and in the engine in the frame-rails.
Top Fuel and funny car would be much less. More like $160-$180K for a turn key competitive car with ZERO spares. But there your genius is in the tune-up. That is why the great crew chiefs get the big bucks. And the spares in your trailer. Figure a good fresh spare bullet complete is around 50K a pop. And a short block about 3/4 of that. And you will need plenty of those. Not to mention going through clutch parts like water. Then fuel costs, tire costs, and the like. Pro stock cars burn 2 gallons of fuel at a few bucks a gallon. Fuel cars burn 12-15 at somewhere in the four times the cost per gallon range. Then pro stock guys dont need spare bodies, but FC needs them.
This is for brand new stuff. You can get used cars for about 40cents on the dollar of brand new that are good pieces and will still work just fine.
This is a rough baseline for that question. If you need more detail, let us know.
Pro stock bike, I have no idea. Askin the wrong guy here. I couldn't get within 200% of the right number.
