Well, we have 35mm film scans that are available now, so someone could verify your claim about the 35mm. It could be that there is variability among the 35mm prints, but that would be unprecedented as far as documented esb changes.

If it was present on the 35mm, sure, it should be included. Including it on the main mix that represents the 35mm, just because it was “at some point” present pre-SE (but not on the 35mm itself) doesn’t make any sense. The tracks are representative of the various specific mixes including 35mm and 70mm/16mm versions from start to finish, rather than being composites of everything that was present prior to 1997.

And I wouldn’t worry about one little thing being insignificant. Around here, the littlest things tend to be the most significant. 😛 In this case, you might not be correct, though. The Grindhouse release of ESB should have the 35mm optical track present to be sure.