You are not really going to fix the tire issue cost. To race larger events it is going to be the price you pay when every tenth counts.
The club racing with open fuel and tires are fun and very inexpensive. If we based a regional series around something like this we might get people to travel more then 45 minutes to race.
Edit to add, We could take an idea from Bernie and add sprinklers around the track and race in rain conditions. much easier on tires.