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{{trope}}
[[File:
In [[Real Life]], the racing of any kind of vehicle is very dangerous, and many people have died or suffered serious injury while doing so. Things have gotten better, but it is still a potentially deadly sport truly only kept in the reigns of safety by [[Badass Driver|the skill of the drivers]]. However, there is also the fact that in real life, except for off-road rallies and endurance races, most races simply involve going from point A to point B, or driving in a circle for 500 or so laps. Because of this, writers tend to spice things up a bit. The result is a Wacky Race, a race so improbable, so outrageous, so dangerous, that it makes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7amgj1DpSA Pikes Peak] look like a Sunday drive.
The race often has rules [[Unnecessary Roughness|more akin to a Demolition Derby than a normal race]], and often takes place on an improbable course. Courses built around entire cities, courses with rollercoaster-like architecture, Courses floating in midair, courses [[Phantom Zone|existing only in an alternate racing dimension]], and courses in locations where it's generally not safe to be standing, let alone ''racing'', are common. In addition, the vehicles themselves are often specialized. If they're cars, expect them to have weapons and other modifications.
If they're go-karts, expect a lot of [[Power-Up|Power Ups]] to be littering the course- if not, plain old [[Car Fu]] will be highly encouraged. And if they aren't normal vehicles, expect them to be some amazing sci-fi vehicle capable of pretty much defying the laws of physics. The Vehicles are often [[Thememobile|themed after their drivers]] ([[Gang of Hats|who are just as wacky as the race itself]]). The [[Rules of the Road]] may be altered arbitrarily. And of course, expect the prize to be some sort of [[MacGuffin]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1CjGTFgoY This Peugeot ad] features the racers from [[Wacky Races]]. Naturally, the car being advertised is the last man standing.
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[
* In cartoons and anime marketed towards kids, an episode like this is inevitable. Most don't involve violence at first, [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat|until at least one bad guy starts cheating]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
** [[Kirby:
** A first season ''[[Pokémon (
*** One episode during the Johto saga had something called "Extreme Pokémon", where the Pokémon pulled the trainer on a skateboard.
** ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' was not one to miss out. It also makes a good example of how the vehicles will reflect the role and personality of their riders: [[The Hero|MegaMan]] drove a F1 car, [[The Rival|ProtoMan]] rode a [[Cool Bike]], [[The Chick|Roll]] drove a silly-looking coupe, and [[Terrible Trio|Force Three]] all rode together in a train.
* [[Digimon Frontier]] had an episode like this. All of the kids, Neemon, and a villian each got onto a train. The episode proceeded as a [[Battle Royale With Cheese]], with only Takuya completing the race.
* ''Scramble Wars'' was a [[Super
* ''[[Gundam|SD Gundam]]'' did a ''[[Wacky Races]]'' homage episode, complete with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
* ''[[
* The TV series of ''[[
* The manga ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' has the dragonfly races in the world of Piffle with all the racers being cameo characters from other [[CLAMP]] series.
* ''[[
* This is serious business for ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
* Episode 9 of [[Carnival Phantasm]]
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The
== Comics ==▼
* A story in ''[[Superboy]]'' had Roxy enter Cadmus's Whiz Wagon in a super-powered cross-country car race called the Demolition Run, organised by a mysterious crime-boss called Mr Big.
▲* The shortlived comic book ''[[Chassis]]'' centered around aircar racing in an [[Alternate History]] where World war II never happened.
▲* A story in ''[[Superboy]]'' had Roxy enter Cadmus's Whiz Wagon in a super-powered cross-country car race called the Demolition Run, organised by a mysterious crime-boss called Mr Big.
* ''Archie's RC Racers'' was one of the stranger entries in the [[Archie Comics]] franchise. In it, two teams of Riverdale teenagers, led by Archie and Reggie, travel across the United States racing radio-controlled cars, while foiling the dastardly schemes of the villainous Babette and her bungling henchmen.
== [[Film]] ==
▲== Films ==
* ''[[The Great Race]]'', which served as the inspiration for the ''[[Wacky Races]]''.
** ''Every'' race in this movie counts as
* The Podracing scene in ''[[Star Wars|The Phantom Menace]]''.
* ''[[Death Race 2000]]''.
** And the 2008 remake ''[[Death Race]]''.
* ''[[Spy Kids]] 3'' has the Mega Race, the fastest and most dangerous race in the Gameworld.
* In a sense, ''[[
* ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' had the same basic concept, only with airplanes.
* ''Monte Carlo or Bust'' (a.k.a. ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies''), sequel to the above.
* The [[Real Life]] [
** ''Cannonball'' (1976), a classic David Carradine B-Movie Action Flick.
** ''[[The Gumball Rally]]'' (1976), a slapstick comedy.
** ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' (1981), an even ''more'' slapstick comedy starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise as the most "normal" team in a field of broad ethnic stereotypes. Includes an early US role for [[Jackie Chan]]
*** Its sequels, ''The Cannonball Run II'' (1985) and ''Speed Zone!'' (1989).
* Of course, [[the
* ''[[Silent Movie (
== [[Literature]] ==
* The broomstick race through a dragon preserve mentioned in ''[[
==
* Sam Carter of ''[[Stargate
▲* The broomstick race through a dragon preserve mentioned in ''[[Quidditch Through the Ages (Literature)|Quidditch Through the Ages]]''.
* ''[[Gekisou Sentai Carranger]]'' and to a lesser extent ''[[Engine Sentai
* ''[[Top Gear]]''. OH. ''MY.'' FREAKING. FORD. '''TOP GEAR.''' Just imagine how many challenges like this they have done... Bugatti Veyron (1000
▲* Sam Carter of [[Stargate SG 1|SG-1]] once had to go through a ridiculous course in an improvised ship in the episode ''Space Race.''
▲* ''[[Gekisou Sentai Carranger]]'' and to a lesser extent ''[[Engine Sentai Goonger]]'' combine this trope with ''[[Super Sentai]]'', which is already pretty damn wacky.
▲* ''[[Top Gear]]''. OH. ''MY.'' FREAKING. FORD. '''TOP GEAR.''' Just imagine how many challenges like this they have done... Bugatti Veyron (1000 bhp supercar) vs. Eurofighter Typhoon (top-rated fighter jet) in a drag race (vertical vs. horizontal), Mazda M-5 vs. a greyhound (the dog, not the bus), compact car vs. [[Le Parkour]], Historic People Carrier/Motorhome/Passenger Bus/Airport Vehicle Racing, etc. That image at the top of this article is a screenshot of a race between driving pairs. Yes, there are two drivers to each double-decker car; one sits at the bottom and handles the gas and brakes, while the other sits at the top and handles the steering.
** The amazing thing about the Bugatti Veyron race was not that the Bugatti lost, but that it lost by only FOUR SECONDS.
** There was a division similar to that in some speedways for a while. One car involved, but two drivers.
** Don't forget racing ''the post.'' They basically raced against an ''abstract concept.'' {{spoiler|And lost.}}
*** Arguably, they were racing a relay team; mail boat takes the letter from the island to the mainland, where a series of planes and trucks carry it further, until it reaches the local post office where a dude comes round and delivers it.
** How about the double-decker car racing, depicted above? The catch is simple: you sit above, your partner sits below. You have the steering, he has the acceleration. Oh, and apart from the [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|ENGLAND vs GERMANY]] race, the same challenge have been repeated in the Ashens Special, against Top Gear Australia hosts.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''[[Car Wars]]'' boardgame by Steve Jackson Games. It's [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] and [[After the End|the aftermath of a nuclear war]] and everyone drives around in cars with machine guns and lasers and the like. Sometimes there are races, but other times the drivers just [[Vehicular Combat|blow seven bells out of each other's vehicles in an arena or on the road]].
* ''[[GURPS
** "EcksEcksEcksEcksian Cart Wars" in ''[[GURPS]] [[Discworld]] Also''. A low-tech parody of the above combined with the ''[[Mad Max]]'' sequence in ''[[
** "CarToon Wars" in ''[[Toon (
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Every ''[[
** Even games that don't actually use karts are subject to this, such as ''[[Kirby]]'s Air Ride'' or ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] Riders''.
** On which note, before there was ''Sonic Riders'', there was ''[[Sonic R]]''. And before ''that'' there was ''Sonic Drift''.
*** And after ''Sonic Riders'', there is the most acclaimed of the ''Sonic'' racers (and the closest one to ''Maro Kart'', natch), ''[[Sega Superstars|Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing]]''.
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* ''[[Burnout]]'': Souped-up, nitro-equipped race-cars (or trucks, or vans) compete in street races on roads packed with civilian traffic, and crashing (or, better yet, [[Car Fu|making your opponents crash]]) is half the point.
* ''[[Flat-Out]]'': Similar to ''Burnout'' but with crazier, off-road tracks, and high explosive trackside objects, but no civilian traffic. The other racers want to make you crash so hard that you're flung through the windscreen of your vehicle, though.
* ''[[
* ''[[Need for Speed]]: Underground'' and ''Underground 2'': Nitro-equipped, highly pimped out import tuners speed around Olympic City and Bayview, through coastlines, back alleys, spillways, factories, and going at 400
** ''[[Need for Speed]]: Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon'': Same as before, but add ''German and Italian supercars'', and just to top the whole thing off, throw in a police department [[We Have Reserves|with infinite funds and reserves.]]
** It gets better in 2010 ''Hot Pursuit'', where you can play as the [[Cowboy Cop]] wrecking the wacky racers' fun.
* ''[[N-Gen Racing]]'': Racing planes through canyons, tho lower you go the faster you go, of course, while using the plane's weapon systems to cause damage to your opponents.
* ''[[
* ''[[Extreme
** The original ''Extreme-G'' on the N64 was able to actually overdo the wackiness. There was a cheat code that enabled you to get a random secondary weapon just by clicking it's fire button as opposed to running over a power-up on the track. And this worked for the A.I. racers too. Cue much rocketspamming and the amount of carnage going on could mess up the N64's processor and graphics and reduce the game to its bare wireframe models in that race.
* ''[[Slipstream 5000]]''. [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] racing with, essentially, flying cars. Through twisting valleys and down fjords in Norway, through the winding highways and tunnels of Chicago, down Grand Canyon... Oh yeah, and you had missiles, too.
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* And the aerial version of this trope, ''[[Freaky Flyers]]''.
* The early 90s computer game ''Stunts'' was about racing in European supercars on courses filled with more obstacles than you can shake a stick at, including half-pipes, corkscrews, loops, jumps over buildings, and roads made of ice. Its [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Track Mania]]'' upped the ante by introducing ''air-suspended courses specially meant for cars that defy the laws of physics''. With its [[Level Editor]], you can also make your courses as crazy as you want - provided the car can get through them...
* ''[[Micro Machines]]'' is
** ''[[Micro Maniacs]]'' is
* ''[[Excite Bike]]'' and ''[[Excite Truck]]''. The latter in particular feels like a G-rated ''[[Carmageddon]]'' crossed with ''Monster Truck Madness''.
** How about ''Excite'' '''''Bots,''''' which is like Truck, except with vehicles styled after animals and minigames ''in the middle of the races.''
* ''Kinetica''. The racers ''wear'' their vehicles, with the wheels attached to the ends of their arms and legs, and they race on the walls and/or ceilings of large skyscrapers. Oh, and did I mention that more than half the racers are hot chicks whose "vehicles" [[Fan Service|show lots of skin]], and that the game is [[Nintendo Hard]]?
* ''HSX Hypersonic.Extreme'' (also known as ''G Surfers''). Think of F-Zero X, ''20 times faster'' and taking place on a ''Real-Scale rendition of the world''. It also features a very powerful track editor which takes advantage of said ''Real-Scale rendition of the world''.
* One of Blizzard's earliest games, ''[[Rock
* ''[[Grip Shift]]'', despite featuring cars, is more of a [[Platform Game]] than an actual racing game. Ditto for the ''[[Track Mania]]'' games.
* The [[Trope Namer]] had a video game based on it made for the Sega Dreamcast and for Playstation 2. Unlike other Mario Kartlikes, you didn't pick up powerups along the
* ''Crazyracing Kartrider''
* ''Star Wars Episode I: Racer'', based on the ''Phantom Menace'' race mentioned above. Settings include underwater cities, mining facilities, volcanic planets and zero-gravity space prisons.
* In ''[[Split Second]]'', you can blow up things around the track, as well as drop ships and ''airplanes'' on your opponents.
* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' ended up with two that I know of. ''Looney Tunes Racing'' was a [[
* ''[[Re-Volt]]'', similar to [[Micro Machines]] but with radio control cars, has [[Everything's Better
* ''[[Choro Q]]'' series isn't as wacky as others in term of a racing rule. However, after the 2nd game, the series started to put the racing courses that are beyond reality such as a disco factory, a sewer, inside a castle, a haunthouse, outer space, on the sky, under the water, and other weird possible areas. And instead of powerup, they have upgradable parts which are crazy instead.
* ''[[
** There's also a map based on the same principal called, you guessed it, wackyraces.
* ''[[Blur (
* The [[Nintendo Wii]] version of the ''[[Speed Racer (
* A sidequest in ''[[Majoras Mask]]'' is a [[Rolling Attack|rolling Goron]] race, which is much like, and about as safe as, [[Don't Try This At Home|climbing inside monster truck tires and racing them down a mountain]].
* ''[[SuperTuxKart]]''
* ''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]''.
* In ''[[
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', we see it done by Cassiel in Ash's race against Logan.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[Wacky Races]]'', which in turn is based on ''[[The Great Race]]''. That fits the driver and car aspects of this trope.
** ''[[
** And the ''[[Fender Bender 500]]'', which replaced everyone except Dick Dastardly and Muttley with classic [[Hanna-Barbera]] characters.
** ''[[
** ''[[Laff-
** Shall we mention the [[Mind Screw]] chase sequence in ''[[
*** Additionally, there's the direct-to-video movie ''Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry'', where the cat and mouse enter a race to win a mansion after being kicked out of their old home. At various legs of the race, they and the other contestants had to continually modify their cars for different types of travel, culminating with a race back to the start in five minutes. The movie ends with a [[Take That]] against [[Lighter and Softer|family friendly programming]]. Yep.
** ''[[
** One ''[[Scooby
*** I read on [[The Other Wiki]] that they'd planned on making a ''Wacky Races'' movie as part of the ''Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10'' mini-series, but ended up ''not'' doing so. Anyone else think it ended up becoming ''Reluctant Werewolf''? (''Could have been. The feature was to have been titled '''Around The World with the Wacky Racers,''' but perhaps the H-B staff felt that a two-hour animated race wasn't sustainable.'')
*** It probably wasn't ''Werewolf,'' as when Hanna-Barbera took out its two-full-page ad in Variety in 1987 announcing the Superstars 10 project, that feature was among the ten listed, as well as the Wacky Races feature. If memory serves, ''Yogi & The Space Bears'' was not among the original ten, so that may have been the substitute.
** The [[Grand Finale]] for ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' has a scene where all the villains drive racecars (with Mojo Jojo's tank resembling the Mean Machine) to race to the Mayor's office where the Key to the World is being hidden. Upon insistence from the Professor, the Girls drive a dune buggy (which looked like a pink [[Shout
* Disney's ''[[The Replacements]]'' had an homage [[Affectionate Parody]] of ''Speed Racer''.
** So did ''[[The Fairly
* Pretty much every cartoon inspired by Hot Wheels. (''[[Accele Racers]]'' in particular, is where the Alternate Racing Dimension thing comes from.)
* ''[[Dragon Booster]]''. The cars are in this case dragons, and the tracks are utterly insane given that they are being raced by living creatures.
* ''[[NASCAR Racers]]'', set in a future where NASCAR has evolved into a ''[[Speed Racer]]'' style event around grotesque dangerous tracks. Ironically, though, it's actually safer than real NASCAR, since all the vehicles have "rescue racers", an escape pod jettisoned in the event of a crash.
* ''[[Teen Titans (
* The entire second season of 80s cartoon ''[[
* ''[[The Dukes]]'', the Hanna-Barbera [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', featured the Duke cousins (originally Coy and Vance and later the more familiar Bo and Luke) in an automobile race around the world against Boss Hogg, in a duel over the ownership of Duke farm.
* ''Tom Slick'', a companion segment to ''[[George of the Jungle]]'', forced the hero and his nemesis, Baron Otto Matic, to convert their racecars into different forms in virtually every episode. During the short run of the series, the Thunderbolt Greaseslapper became, among other things, a skateboard, a blimp, a submarine, a locomotive, a snowmobile and a swamp buggy.
* In the episode "Death Race to Oblivion" of ''[[Batman:
* 'Johnny Kart Racing' in ''[[Johnny Test]]'' centered around this. Notably, the episode starts off as a normal soapbox car race between Johnny and Dukey, snowballs into this trope as more and more racers enter, and the soapboxes are swapped for real cars. Also noteworthy is that a lampshade is hung [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat]].
* [[The BBC]]'s ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110906214736/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/about/programmes/kerwhizz.shtml Kerwhizz]'' is a mostly-CGI, pre-school game show, in which three teams consisting of a kid and his/her android [[Non-Human Sidekick]] answer questions before racing their pods around a themed "race world". One suspects the writers may be paying homage to ''[[Wacky Races]]'' with titles like "Fun Food Freeway", "Moonlight Night Flight" and "The Deserted Desert Dash".
* ''Bailey's Comets'' was an obscure De Patie-Freleng show from 1973 (airing on CBS) about ten teams of roller skaters, including the titular Comets, who are on a cross-country marathon race to find a treasure.
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* One episode of ''[[
* It's a tradition in ''[[Transformers]]'' to have at least one such race per franchise, except during the Beast Era when such things would have been ridiculous.
** Yes, having ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise|bullet trains]]'' participate in a rally race [[Sarcasm Mode|isn't ridiculous at all]].
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]]: Most rally raids, including the Paris-Dakar Rally and the Baja 1000. More often than not, these rallies are not much about who finishes first, but more about ''who finishes!''
** Of particular note is the 1963 East African Safari Rally. Eighty-four cars started the rally. Five days later ''[
* [http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ 24 hours of Lemons]. Just, go out there and look how people race these little pieces of crap. You won't regret it.
** [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Lemons/Le Mans]], hmm?
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Wacky Racing]]
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