As painful as it can be to admit, the one-mile dirt tracks in Springfield and Du Quoin, Ill., might be candidates for a racing version of the endangered species list.

Mile tracks were once an essential element of the national championship schedule and one by one most faded into oblivion. For traditionalists, the loss of the Indiana State Fairgrounds was the cruelest cut of all. It makes these Illinois ovals sacred turf, particularly for those who love the sound of a big USAC Silver Crown car reverberating off the roof of the old, covered grandstands.