Could this be the oldest Slot Car Racing System on the planet? 
Racing System being defined as: a gizmo that offers a sanctioned start and determines A winner.

This machine, affectionately named the “Glitter Box”, was completed in 1990. And as far as I am aware, it preceded the first digital Slot Car Lap Counters by more than a decade.

It uses a light sequence to synchronize the start, has a “red light” fault detection feature, a digital/programmable lap counter, digital timer displayed in hundredths of a second, a winner light accurate to 10 nanoseconds, and a singles mode!

I say “uses” as in present-tense because the Glitter Box is still calling races as of today, 12/19/2011.

Years before the first Field Programmable Gamma Array IC's became available, this Slot Car Timer/ Lap Counter is compiled of a hodge-podge of logic IC’s, mostly originating from the first IBM 8088 computers of the day.

I have hours of videos racing with my six year old daughter, now a twenty eight year old real-estate agent, to confirm the inventions early beginnings.
  

Is anyone aware of even a simple programmable digital Slot Car Lap Counter that predates this piece of Slot Car  history?
I'm not talking software, I mean a (tangible) machine.

Thanks
Happy tracks!