You can buy a set of wheels with mounted tires for the same or maybe less then 1 set of Hoes.

I run R 7s on my HP VW and they go about as fast as the radial slicks- But are a touch shorter and wider. The fall off from new to 4 heats is a little higher with R7 tho. Both will go 8-10 heats or cords.

We get 30hrs on the rears of the Super truck, 315 Nittos. They work fine , some are faster , some like water better,. etc all true.
But, there are choices that play in the same few percent of each other for overall speed.

Stand back and look at the classes from the stands. The tires on that(Prod x) car cost 1200$ per set and they toss them at 4 heats. The tires on that GTL car 1200 per set, etc.
But the tires on that IT car cost 600$ and they play all year until they cord .

Funny how looking at the names on the tire letters, the younger racers want to go fast and spend lots of money while the old coots know that it is about the racing and the cheaper the racing can be the more racers will race.
It's not rocket science ,it's basic marketing .
When the tires cost as much as 50% of the car , you can do better. Many of these ITB cars sell for 2000$