Like you, I realize that some past plans are not so financially wise... as in it would take too large a percentage of personal money to run a competitive racecar. Money that would help out with setting up a future business.
If the car is going to be a promotional tool for a/some business(s) and there are a bunch of old mates that chip in financially, then I will gladly build the engine, help with tuning and data acq/setup, be part of the crew, as well as fund the majority of it.
To be honest I think the money (for class A or lower) is the lesser of worries. A complete crew that is dedicated to the effort will be hard to assemble. The human factor... tough. There are 7 good friends off the top of my head that I can think of. That's slightly short of a full crew I believe.