Wacky Races (event)

This article is about the sporting event. For other uses, see Wacky Races.

The cars are approaching the starting line!

The Wacky Races is an racing event and the central element in the Wacky Races animated franchise. The event first appeared in the 1968 Saturday morning television series of the same name, and consisted of a series of races in which drivers must compete in order to earn the title of "World's Wackiest Racer." The event was commentated by an unseen narrator (played by Dave Willock) in the original series, while in the 2017 Wacky Races reboot, it was overseen by Brick Crashman.

Announcers

• The narrator (original series)
• Brick Crashman (2017 reboot)

Racers

Original series

In the original Wacky Races, there were a total of 23 people and animals spread among 11 uniquely themed race cars. The racers consist of:

• Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley, two sinister racers who drive in the Mean Machine (designated number 00) and attempt to cheat in every race to throw off the competition
• The Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel, a caveman duo driving in the Boulder Mobile (1)
• The Gruesome Twosome, Big Gruesome and Little Gruesome, two monsters who race in the Creepy Coupe (2)
• Professor Pat Pending, an inventor in the Convert-a-Car (3)
• The Red Max, a German-accented aviator in the Crimson Hayballer (4)
• Penelope Pitstop, the lone female driver who drives in the fashion-inspired Compact Pussycat (5)
• Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the military-themed Army Surplus Special (6)
• The Ant Hill Mob (consisting of leader Clyde and his goons, Ring-a-Ding, Rug Bug Benny, Mac, Danny, Kurby and Willy), in the Bulletproof Bomb (7)
• Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear, in the rual-themed Arkansas Chuggabug (8)
• Peter Perfect, in the high-tech, yet fragile Turbo Terrific (9)
• Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth, in the lumberjack-inspired Buzz Wagon (10)

Reboot series

In the Wacky Races reboot, Dick Dastardly and Muttley, Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect, and the Gruesome Twosome were the only returning original racers to appear, while more than half of the remaining characters did not return in this series. The racers in this series' lineup are:

• Dick Dastardly and Muttley, in the Mean Machine
• Penelope Pitstop, in the Compact Pussycat
• Peter Perfect, in the Turbo Terrific
• The Gruesome Twosome, in the Creepy Coupe
• I. Q. Ickly, a highly intelligent young boy who races in a car controlled by a sentient AI

In addition to both its main contestants, the series also had several guest racers:

• Pandora Pitstop, Penelope's evil twin sister who drives a car identical to the Compact Pussycat
• Captain Dash, Polly, Bugsy, Bluebeard and Davey Bones, a group of pirates that often pitted with Dastardly and steal his gigs
• Huckleberry Hound
• Touché Turtle
• Ricochet Rabbit
• Winsome "Winnie" Witch

In popular culture

• BBC Two's Dead Ringers TV series has an episode (yes, "an episode," #lostmedia) that merges Top Gear with Wacky Races. Jeremy Clarkson, the host of Top Gear, is now Dick Dastardly riding in the Mean Machine chasing Penelope to over her car and be the pretty one. Muttley also appears a traffic guard to stop her.
• In "Lust in Translation," an episode of the British The Green Green Grass sitcom, Boycie calls his inept farmhands the Wacky Racers as he watches them drive away from the farm.
• In the UK show Sooty, there is an episode called "The Great Car Race," which has a Wacky Races-type race, with its own Dick Dastardly, Freddy Firewheel, who also says, "Drat, and double drat," when Sooty and Soo foil his plan to stop them from driving their van by throwing oil over their windshield by simply using the windshield wipers.
• In The Simpsons episode "Gone Abie Gone," the couch gag is a parody of the Wacky Races, wherein the Simpsons take their couch on the road up against other citizens who have also turned their couches into makeshift racecars, with the theme song playing over the race. Homer, Marge, and Burns are dressed like Peter, Penelope, and Dick, respectively, with Burns driving a car that resembles the Mean Machine. Lester's car is also called Hick Dastardly.
• In the South Park episode "Handicar," the event is reported to make a return on a Saturday morning in a battle of the future of car lift transportation between Lyft, Matthew McConaughey's Zipcar, Russian taxi driver, Hummer salesman, Elon Musk and his Tesla D, Neve Campbell and her fart-propelled concept car the Queef (dressed like Penelope riding her Compact Pussycat), Timmy and his Handicar, a self driving car from Japan, and elderly versions of Dick and Muttley in their Mean Machine. This causes both national and international chaos and fear of what will become of the world, and an impromptu last minute dash for everyone to rush out to their local supermarket and buy out all the cereal and milk. The intro sequence is copied and as is standard for every episode of Wacky Races, an unseen commentator provides coverage of who is in the lead and shows a map of their destination, with the twist of having to deliver passengers.
• Dastardly and Muttley sat on the bleachers for the Big Fat Race in the Uncle Grandpa episode "Uncle Grandpa Retires."
• In the Lucifer episode "Yabba Dabba Do Me," a young Jimmy Baines watches Wacky Races.

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Dead Ringers (radio)

• "Episode 4" (series 2): Formula One drivers are parodied as Wacky Racers, which Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen, Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard, and Jenson Button.
• "Episode Three" (series 5): In response to Elton John singing a non-Disney song, Phil Collins also sings a non-Disney song set to the tune of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," about Dick losing against the Ant Hill Mob, the Mean Machine being cut in half, and punching Muttley in the nose when Muttley laughs at him. In typical fashion, we then hear Dick ask for Muttley's help, who just laughs.