The decision to continue with Sunday's New Hampshire 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway maintains a 52-year-old tradition of racing in the face of great personal, national and international tragedy.

While the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon forced Major League Baseball to cancel games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; and the NCAA to postpone all games scheduled for Thursday and several more Saturday, the sanctioning body for stock car racing will be driven by a simple policy: The show must go on.

NASCAR announced late Tuesday that it would cancel qualifying Friday and set the field for Sunday's main event by the current point standings. By late Wednesday, however, NASCAR didn't seem as confident, because of the uncertainty surrounding air travel.

But for now, the show must go on.

Stock car racing has two hallowed holidays in Easter and Mother's Day. Other than that, the only forces that have caused the postponement of a race have been rain, snow and fire. Death of national and foreign leaders, terrorist attacks and the death of its own racing stars have never steered the sport away from a scheduled green flag start.

''Our country has experienced a terrible tragedy,'' said NASCAR president Mike Helton. ''We will continue to monitor and evaluate this situation and make the appropriate decisions as the week progresses.''

When racing icon Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap of the Feb. 18 Daytona 500, there was a cry for silence on race day a week later. But keeping with its tradition, the sanctioning body forged ahead. It proved to be one of the toughest days in the sport's history, and yet it turned into a significant landmark in the painful healing process.

That's why the sport races on.

''The country has to move forward,'' driver Jeremy Mayfield said. ''As tough as it is for everybody, we have to keep going. It's no easier for our guys to load up and head to New Hampshire than it is for anybody else going to work today or tomorrow or whatever. You want to stay home; you want to be with your family; you want to be glued to the television.''

The only non-weather postponement came in 1998, when wildfires in Florida forced the delay of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Fires were so severe in Central Florida the massive raceway became a mobile command center for thousands of firefighters.

If the show indeed goes on Sunday, it most certainly will come with a host of travel problems and the threat, implied or otherwise, of continued violence. By canceling Friday's time trials, the sanctioning body gave fans an extra day to drive to New Hampshire instead of attempting to fly into airports in Boston or Manchester, N.H.

''If you run, there are those people who think you should have stayed home,'' Kyle Petty said. ''If you stay home, you get those people who think you should run. There is no easy decision, but after what happened Tuesday, I don't know there are a whole lot of easy decisions for anybody to make these days.''

Petty faced one of those tough decisions a year ago. His son, Adam, was killed while practicing at New Hampshire. NASCAR ran the main event two days later as planned, but Petty stepped away from the circuit for nearly a month.

Now, 16 months later, Petty must return to New Hampshire to face a different kind of tragedy.

''We'll go up there (to New Hampshire), and we'll do whatever we need to do, and we'll do it the best we can,'' he said. ''It's not going to be a real pleasant weekend, but it's not going to be real pleasant for anybody, anywhere in this country doing anything else.''

Some inside the racing community feel business as usual is the best way to show terrorists they can't bully Americans from their routine.

''As difficult as it may be, the best message we can give to terrorists is that nothing will beat this country,'' said car owner Andy Petree. ''We're going to keep going, and nothing is going to get us down.

''Racing isn't going to be easy, but I think everybody in the country needs to show the world what we're made of. I appreciate - and I think everyone with the teams appreciate - the way NASCAR handled this situation.''

Which simply means, the show must go on.

Fires in Daytona ... snow and rain ... none for national or international events ...