ACID TEST; It's Make or Break for Formula One at Indy.(Motorsports)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

In terms of competition, Formula One will arrive in Indianapolis for the U.S. Grand Prix on June 17 in the midst of arguably its most interesting season in years, thanks to its top four drivers.

World champion Fernando Alonso moved from Renault to McLaren-Mercedes during the off- season, where he is teamed with 22-year-old rookie phenom Lewis Hamilton. Likewise, Kimi Raikkonen defected from McLaren to Ferrari, but teammate Felipe Massa has surprisingly outperformed him thus far. Through five races, three different drivers (Raikkonen, Alonso and Massa) have won, and McLaren's duo is tied for the championship lead. Massa is just five points behind, followed by his teammate 10 points farther back.

In other words, this is not one of those boring whitewash seasons that will be decided by August; at least, that does not appear likely so far.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are certainly paying attention, but for largely different reasons. With a contract that expires after the race, they want to see the crowd's size and response and the overall vibe of the event, now in its eighth year.

Except perhaps for the first year, the race has never faced more pressure to be successful. Oh, sure, there was some tension last year in the months leading up to the weekend in the aftermath of the 2005 Michelin tire debacle, when the 14 cars shod with French rubber pulled off the track ahead of the start and aborted the race. But fears of rejection by fans were reduced when Michelin bought its way out of the problem, paying for 20,000 tickets and giving them away to customers who renewed their tickets from the previous year.

Michelin left Grand Prix racing at the end of last season. There will be no freebies this time, no advance publicity in the form of an apology from the company whose trouble caused a six-car Bridgestone parade that resulted in the lowly Jordan and Minardi teams finishing third through sixth behind the Ferraris.