I apologized to one of the racers about the cost of the race I hold. The racer just laughed. Apparently she does ironmans, marathons, and other non-cycling things. I don't remember the exact numbers but it's in the range of $650 for an ironman (Hawaii?), $150-250 for regular ironmans, and something similar for marathons.
Suddenly the $32 she was paying for two races wasn't a lot.
I think that road races should cost more than a crit. I can't imagine trying to hold a road race, due to both budget and organizational stuff. It's closer to a marathon than a crit, but you have competitors going 50-60 mph down hills (well around here anyway).
I know of only one road race's budget around here, and it's in the low $100,000 range. For a one day road race!