It doesn't matter what the class or series, racing is racing. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I often get asked if I raced. That strikes me as funny. I guess it depends on what you define racing as. Is it driving a car, being a race mechanic, owner, engineer..what? I have worked with and engineered literally hundreds of race cars over the past fifteen years. I guess that qualifies.
You can say you race if you are actively involved with a race team, in the shop and at the races. Have I driven a race car? Yes. Besides two schools I attended, I raced karts competitively for five years and drove those on dirt tracks (my personal favorite), circle tracks (the photo above is me winning a race at New Smyrna), and on road courses.
Was karting "real" racing? You bet. It takes all of the skills and endurance racing karts that go upwards of 125MPH and pull 4-5 G's in the corners that it does racing a super late model. In fact, going that fast, running full throttle for the entire lap, and being an inch off the pavement provides plenty of pucker power.
Our laps at New Smyrna when I practiced there and raced once were only a second off the super late times. We never lifted the entire lap and pulled a good 3.5 to 4.0 G's, much more than the 1.6 or so the late model guys did. Racing is racing and no matter what you do, it is all good.