I know what you guys are saying, but you have no idea what you're talking about, at least about physical effort from the driver.
I've read stories about race car drivers losing 10 pounds of body mass a race because of sweating. In mean, think of it like this, you have a 2 ton piece of metal radiating about 220 degrees, say, 4 feet in front (or behind) of you, on top of that, you're stuffed into four layers of fabric and wearing a full face helmet. Furthermore, race cars are built to be light, all they have in them is the frame, engine system (exhaust and stuff included), the suspension, the stearing and safety measures. Most of them aren't even made with a real body, just fiberglass plating over the roll-cage. You have almost nothing (except a fireproof panel) between you and hot ass engine. Now, I'm not saying that takes an athlete, (and I'm not arguing that driving a car is a sport) I'm just saying that I really don't believe anyone can get in a car and go 'round a track.
Now with that out of the way, think of shit like hand-eye coordination. Have you ever driven a car at sixty miles per hour? It can get nerve wracking with a lot of cars around. Now think of that, but you're driving 212 miles per hour and there are 45 other cars on the between 2 and 7 mile track with you.
Like I said, I don't think its really a sport, but fuck if you think its not taxing or hard on the drivers.
JOXAM IS NOT SO FUNNY