Dirt Racing is a touchy subject within the NASCAR fandom. Many fans (myself included) desperately want Dirt Racing to find its place within the sport. Meanwhile, there is a whole other contingent of fans who loathe the idea of Dirt Racing in NASCAR. NASCAR has already experimented with Dirt Racing over the past dozen years or so. The Craftsman Truck Series went to Eldora Speedway for the first time in 2013 and raced there until 2019. The Trucks returned to the Dirt in 2021 at Knoxville Raceway, but that proved to only be a 2-year deal. Also in 2021 the much maligned Bristol Dirt Race made its debut. Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) continued to flex their creative muscles by covering their most beloved track in dirt for the spring race. The debut was a learning experience to say the least. However, the 2022 and 2023 editions were genuinely good races with well prepared tracks, multiple grooves, and plenty of fun racing.
The Bristol Dirt Race experiment was a rousing success whether some fans agreed with it or not. It accomplished exactly what it set out to do. It brought more attention to the Spring Race at Bristol while also proving that the NASCAR Cup Series could race on dirt. But since that race saw its final edition in 2023, the future of Dirt Racing in NASCAR has been a little in flux.
The Springfield Mile
The Springfield Mile, for those who are not familiar, is a One Mile long Dirt Track located in Springfield, Illinois, the States’s Capital. The track was first built in 1894 but first hosted Auto Racing in 1910. The facility hosted its first Motorcycle race in 1937, which has become a yearly tradition every Labor Day.
But what is more pertinent to our discussion is happening at the track this weekend. Today the ARCA Menards Series returns to The Springfield Mile for the 42nd time. The series has been racing in Springfield every year since 1983.
A Proposal
Whether or not you agree with Dirt Racing in NASCAR, I ask you to hear me out. NASCAR should race at The Springfield Mile.
Yes, it is most definitely easier said than done, but I think the investment would be worth it. The facility would certainly need some work to bring it up to the quality one would expect from a NASCAR facility. The most obvious of which would be the glaring lack of a true Pit Road and the limited amount of seating. The track currently seats approximately 11,500 people, and for comparison the smallest Cup Series venue (in terms of seating capacity) is North Wilkesboro Speedway at ~25,000.
If NASCAR were to invest in renovations for The Springfield Mile, like a true Pit Road and more seating, installing SAFER Barriers etc., then it could become the home of Dirt Racing in NASCAR.
Why It Won’t Work
Admittedly, there are many issues with this idea. One of which is the location of the track. For starters, the track is located within a busy fairground and even with its limited seating now, it is a tight fit. So installing 15,000 to 20,000 seats would be a challenge. But, that wouldn’t rule out the possibility of temporary grandstands, something NASCAR has had at some races more often in recent memory. Nashville Superspeedway comes to mind, that track only has one main grandstand in the middle of the front stretch, at the Start/Finish Line.
Secondly, the location of Springfield, Illinois itself. The City of Springfield is located directly in the middle of a trifecta of cities in the Midwest. All of which currently host NASCAR Cup Series races. Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago all surround Springfield. As we’ve seen in the Short Track heavy South East with Bristol, North Wilkesboro, Martinsville, and Richmond (not to mention Bowman-Gray Stadium now, as well), over-saturation is a thing that NASCAR should consider for certain regions.
Why It Matters
I’m not saying I think this will happen at any point in the future. I am merely just making my case for something that could be a fix for one of NASCAR’s big questions regarding the schedule moving forward.
But, there is more at stake than just Dirt Racing and its place in NASCAR. The majesty of the ever-so-rare One Mile Dirt Track is on its last legs. After the closing of the Syracuse Mile (aka the Moody Mile), there are four such dirt tracks that are still in operation. DuQuoin, Indianapolis (which has been converted to a year round horse training facility, and parking for the Indiana State Fair), Sacramento (even though it went many years without Auto Racing, but it did host American Flat Track motorcycle racing the last two years), and of course, Springfield.
The point is One-Mile Dirt Tracks are dying. By renovating The Springfield Mile and racing there, NASCAR would be saving a century’s worth of history on those types of tracks. All the tracks I listed above that are still in operation in someway, all of them have long, illustrious histories in Motorcycle racing, traditional Dirt Racing and Stock Car racing alike. They are some of the fastest and most unique Dirt Tracks in the country.
It is also worth noting that the city of Springfield, Illinois is not very big compared to the aforementioned Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago, at ~113,000 people. But considering NASCAR still hosts races in small towns like North Wilkesboro or Martinsville, this shouldn’t be an issue. This event would immediately become one of the biggest events of the year for the city, and the financial benefits of an event of this magnitude would be hard to ignore for a city the size of Springfield.
Image: ARCAracing.com
