Some of the best racing at The Brickyard was Friday evening, and the grandstands were all but empty. There were people about the place, but for the most part the seating looked more like aluminum storage.

This first visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway by the ROLEX Grand-Am series showcased everything that defines motor racing and few, a very few, even bothered to give the race an eye.

When the green flag drops on Sunday’s Curtiss Shaver 400, the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the grandstands will be crowded, filled and full of “race” fans. Or should we say “NASCAR” fans… They aren’t “race” fans. The proof was the empty aluminum on Friday. With that omission, they deprived themselves of a great event.

They missed true variety on the track. They missed true variety of conditions. They missed controversy and drama. Props to SPEED channel for showing the race, live, from the speedway. At least they gave NASCAR fans across the country the chance to not watch just as if the were in Indianapolis and did not go…

There was speed and passing and contact and crashes and spins and rain. Yes… Rain! Where NASCAR would run and hide in the garage for a sprinkle the drivers of the Grand-Am series stayed out. Driving, racing, passing… In a downpour that would make truckers stop under an overpass. Then the rain stopped and the speed increased. Every lap pushed more water off. Dry conditions with standing puddles testing skill and machinery even further. Accelerate out of a turn, the rear goes light in the wet, at speed the tires catch on the dry and pull at every bit of suspension kicking the car the other way. The drivetrain can snap. The car can bounce out. The driver is jerked against the harness. Cars touch. Turn, brake, squeeze by or get caught up.

The track dried. They raced on. It became a race between drivers as the track became a constant variable. A joker in the deck came out with no points on the line but with a drive to win. Juan Pablo Montoya, crossing over for the day from the Chip Ganassi #42 Target Chevy to one of the Ganassi BMW Riley Prototypes, drove underneath a Starworks Motorsport car. Starworks went off and out of contention. The driver was left storming through the infield with gravel in the tires and fire in his eyes. Controversy.

Two classes clashed as prototypes and GT driver fought for the same line. Memo Rojas, in another Ganassi BMW prototype, trying to get by the Stevenson Motorsport Camaro with Ronnie Bremmer at the wheel, misjudged the space at Indy and clipped the wall and bounced the Camaro. The Camaro spun into the wall crunching up bits all over the car.

This was racing at Indy for the inaugural Grand-Am race over the bricks. There were cars on the wall, off the wet and into the sand or barricades. Cars touched, clipped and pushed as tempers flared. The speed was high and the turns forced every position.

And there was practically nobody there. Why…? Is a Porsche in Victory Lane too foreign? Too confusing? What if it was a Ford? What if it was both? A Starworks Ford/Riley won the Prototype class.  Not the one Montoya put off but another one… The Porsche was from Magnus Racing. Two classes. Two winners. Same race.

Is that too much for the average NASCAR fan? Is BMW racing against Mazda or Porsche or Ford or Chevrolet or Ferrari too much to process? Maybe it’s the doors that open and lights that work…?

The question, “race” fans, is what makes you clammer over NASCAR when racing from Grand-Am, American Le Mans, IndyCar, Formula 1 and other series is as exiting with more variety and similar, or faster, speeds? What makes you fill the grandstands on “Cup” day and shun the gates for other races? For that matter, why are small tracks across the country struggling with attendance? They have races almost every weekend, cheap tickets and “do or die” racing. It is good stuff and few see it.

Are race fans just like “music” fans or “theater” fans or “comedy” fans…? It’s only good if they are famous and the ticket is expensive? We don’t get it. There is a good band playing. There is a funny comedian at the club. There is a good race at the small track down the road. It doesn’t have to be Green Day, or Larry the Cable Guy, or Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to be good and fun and fast.

What is it?