Tom Slick (TV series)

The premise

Tom Slick, a freckle-faced, grinning racecar driver with an all-American look, was voiced by Bill Scott. His car, the Thunderbolt Grease-Slapper, took him through a variety of races. Along for the ride were his girlfriend Marigold, voiced by June Foray, and his elderly mechanic Gertie Growler, also voiced by Bill Scott. The two women frequently clashed. The main villain was the evil Baron Otto Matic, voiced by Paul Frees, who often whacked his dim-witted lackey Clutcher—voiced by Daws Butler doing an impression of Frank Fontaine’s “Crazy Guggenheim”—across the head with a monkey wrench. Every episode was narrated by a voice mimicking Sid Collins, the famous Indianapolis 500 announcer of the time. A constant joke was the Thunderbolt Grease-Slapper’s ability to transform into almost any kind of racing vehicle, often looking completely different from its original form. It appeared as a train, a stock car, a drag racer, a racing balloon, a swamp buggy, a submarine, and even a tiny skateboard. Most races were set between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Gary, Indiana. During the theme song, the Grease-Slapper would suddenly bounce off the road into a barnyard full of farm animals. Tom would be knocked out for a moment, a chicken perched on his head, as he drove straight into a brick wall. Miraculously, he escaped the chaos when his car fell apart in mid-air and then reassembled itself. The vehicle then leaped onto and off a stone monument bearing Tom’s name, and he got back on the road, waving and smiling.