Wacky Races (1968 TV series)
Eleven wacky cars race for the title of World's Wackiest Racer.
Last updated
Wacky Races is an American animated comedy series from Hanna-Barbera Productions and Heatter-Quigley Productions. It originally ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 14, 1968, to January 4, 1969, with reruns airing the following season. The show follows 11 distinct cars competing in road rallies across North America, each driver vying for the title of "World's Wackiest Racer." The concept was inspired by the 1965 film The Great Race. This was Heatter-Quigley's only non-game show; it was initially conceived as a game show where children would predict race winners for prizes, but CBS removed those elements during development.
Spin-offs and similar series
The cartoon features 23 regular characters (people and animals) spread across the 11 vehicles. After its CBS run, it aired in syndication from 1976 to 1982. Seventeen episodes were produced, each containing two 10-minute segments. Over the years, the series inspired several spin-offs centered on Dick Dastardly, most notably Fender Bender 500 in 1990.
Plot
A reboot was released in 2017 on Boomerang's video-on-demand service, later airing on Cartoon Network in 2018. The show revolves around racers with distinct themes, each allowed to use strange gimmicks. The race announcer (voiced by Dave Willock) narrates and interacts with the competitors. The racers include: - The Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel (vocal effects by Daws Butler and Don Messick), two cavemen driving the Boulder Mobile (1).
Their rock car is powered by hitting it with clubs, and they can rebuild it from bare rock. They speak in gibberish with occasional intelligible words, and their bodies are covered in long hair except for their noses, arms, and legs. - The Gruesome Twosome, Tiny "Big Gruesome" (voiced by Daws Butler) and Bela "Little Gruesome" (voiced by Don Messick), monsters in the Creepy Coupe (2). Their horror-themed car has a bell tower with a fire-breathing dragon, bats, ghosts, and other creatures. The car uses "dragon power" as a booster. - Professor Pat Pending (voiced by Don Messick), an inventor driving the Convert-a-Car (3), which can transform into almost anything that moves. - The Red Max (voiced by Daws Butler), a Manfred von Richthofen–style aviator with a German accent, driving the Crimson Haybaler (4), a car/airplane hybrid that can fly short distances in ground effect.
Background
The cartoon revolves around several racers with various themes who are each allowed to use strange gimmicks to compete against other racers in many races across North America as the race announcer (voiced by Dave Willock) talks about the race while interacting with the racers. The racers include the Slag Brothers (Rock and Gravel) in the Boulder Mobile; the Gruesome Twosome (Tiny 'Big Gruesome' and Bela 'Little Gruesome') in the Creepy Coupe; Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car; the Red Max in the Crimson Haybaler; Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat; Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special; the Ant Hill Mob (seven dwarf gangsters) in the Bulletproof Bomb; Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug; Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific; Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon; and Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine.
The show gave the results of each race at the end of each episode (the first, second, and third placings are given by the narrator) as well as what happened with Dick Dastardly after his last scheme's failure. The show never indicated a particular scoring system or way to determine who won the Wacky Races as a whole. After its network run on CBS, Wacky Races ran in syndication from 1976 to 1982.
Did You Know?
- In the opening title sequence, Dick Dastardly attempts to stall the racers by chaining their cars to a pole, but accidentally shifts into reverse and frees them.
More in Animated television series about auto racing
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Wacky Races (1968 TV series) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced