Offside Undo.

Are we in the golden era of motorsports or are we on the brink of racing's Armageddon? Take F1. With their NASA-sized budgets F1 cars are bespoke with launch control, a device so thrilling that drivers need just push a button and they shoot off the starting grid. With this launch comes legal traction control to prevent wheelspin out of these 900-hp racers. Why in Bernie E.'s name should race cars do something as exciting as smoke rubber?

Those who know such things say today's onboard electronics and computer telemetry in Formula One cars are so sophisticated that it is entirely possible to have command-steering, acceleration, everything-from the pits. Who needs Mika, Rubens or Jarno, truly?

Ah, but F1 has way more goodies than those simple gadgets, some of which are found off-track. At each grand prix, His Highness sits in a palatial motor coach overseeing a screen on which appear dots that represent performers in his realm. He electronically monitors the rooks and pawns-team members, registered news hounds, international celebs-through a device that ``reads'' the digitally encrypted credentials. Launch control may well be new to the sport, but control certainly is not.

In this country, racing is NASCAR. And NASCAR on big tracks is restrictor-plate racing, which isn't so much racing as it is The Show. Restrictor-plate racing is a forced state of equilibrium where 44 ``stock'' cars run side

by side for three ...