One Thing I Don't See Here
Is a certain amount of mechanical knowledge is required. Not everyone has access or the funding for a prep shop. Nice to have but not totally necessary. Modern cars are just too dependable so that knowledge is being lost. I won't get into SCCA doing everything they can to kill racing,
Cost of racing a formula car
I ran a FV for almost 20 years and now run a FC. For the biggest bang for the BUCK it is FV. Easy to maintain and fix when you make that stupid move that you will make. It depends on where you are as to the size of field. FV does teach you how to maintain momentum, which is very important, regardless of class.
FC is a very similar group of people as to the FV group. The cars are more complicated to maintain but still doable in the home garage.
Starting out in racing is a learning curve and does take time on the track and in the garage, unless you can afford the arrive and drive route. Eliminating the garage time does take out some the knowledge of the car from the equation. That car knowledge is very important to the professional driver to tell the team what is happening so that the team can fix.
Long winded reply, but I am a supporter of formula cars.