David,
I used to go with a friend of mine that was into drag racing and I worked on his car some with him. That was way back in the days of several stock classes and it was just a souped up 56 Chevy and ran in the 14s I think it was. But we would spend 4 hours driving each way for him to make one pass and come home. I just couldn't see spending 10 hours for less than 15 seconds of racing.
I like to road race and even like it when there are no other cars on the track as you can try different things. We have a long winding old no longer used highway that goes up through some of the low hills here and that is where I and some friends used to go to race or try the cars out. And it didn't cost anything but the gas. I think the open track days here are now around $300 for a day and depending on the number of cars you may not get much time on the track. That is why I kind of liked the driving schools as then you were assured of so much time on track.
Ron
