the money part I can understand why your stressing cause no one ever wants to lose money.
the fun part about a race like this is hey this guy spent lets say what like $3X,XXX on this car if he bought it brand new plus mods. and you have a 96 that you more than likely bought used so the cost of your car plus mods maybe somewhere around $10,000 (just taking a wild guess I have no idea) I personally always got a huge kick out of beating cars that were worth sooo much more than mine. Dollar for dollar he should win...but he won't