History Main / WackyRacing

* The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQIH5KyUjI Japan World Cup]]" is a horse racing WidgetSeries that is all about this. For starters, half the "racehorses" aren't even ''horses'' (and one is clearly just two guys in a horse costume), and even the ones that are have their own bizarre and eclectic themes[[labelnote:*]]A kinky [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench French]] stripper/dominatrix who rides a horse wearing lingerie and prefers a whip to a riding crop, a [[JapaneseDelinquent bosozoku biker]] who rides a [[DelinquentHair pompadour'ed]] racehorse like a motorcycle and an American duo who ride tandem on an elongated horse that seems to stretch out over time.[[/labelnote]]. Only the first horse seems perfectly normal... right up until it stands on its hind legs and starts doing ''the Charleston'' across the finish line. [[SerialEscalation And it gets even wackier with]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2HOdLeUC0E each]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-haQwla2ao sequel]].

%%* ''VideoGame/CrazyracingKartrider''

The race often has rules [[UnnecessaryRoughness 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 [[PhantomZone 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.

Also see UnconventionalVehicleChase, VehicularCombat, ChariotRace, FictionalSport, {{Pseudolympics}}.

* ''VideoGame/LEGORacers'' is basically ''Mario Kart'' [-[[RecycledInSpace WITH LEGOS!]]-]

%%* ''VideoGame/SuperTuxKart''

%%* ''VideoGame/MicroManiacs'' is WackyRacing ''on foot.''

[[caption-width-right:350:DontAsk.]]

%%* The aerial version of this trope, ''VideoGame/FreakyFlyers.''

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/TopGear https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TG_Double_Race.jpg]]]]

** The third installment added special abilities like BulletTime and sonic blasts which part the traffic ahead. The vehicles could now be customized by the player, so they could be as eccentric as desired. Better yet, the game dumped the {{Fauxrrari}} approach of the first two games in favor of featuring real life vehicles-including super-rare vehicles like the McLaren F1 and even concept cars like the Cadillac Sixteen.

** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-To-Shining-Sea_Memorial_Trophy_Dash Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash]] was specifically intended to protest the 55 mph speed limit of TheSeventies. In addition to the willful disregard for the speed limit, some drivers decided to use gimmicks like the team that dressed up as priests to troll the cops, a man who brought a police badge to pretend he was an undercover cop [[note]] the real cops saw right through it [[/note]], and the team that rigged up a van to look like an ambulance, complete with doctor and "patient" in the back, with the alibi that the "patient" had to get to California for a life saving operation[[[note]][[http://www.onelapofamerica.com/cannonball/index.shtml?cball=article1979 According to Brock Yates himself]], the ambulance eventually encountered policemen who tried their damnedest to [[PullingTheThread pull the thread]] of the cover story, but the doctor (who was an actual doctor) did "[[RefugeInAudacity the performance of a lifetime]]" supplying answers (the ailment was in the patient's lungs, it could become fatally complicated if they placed her in a pressurized cabin, etc.) and the cops let them go[[/note]].

* One of the settings written for ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' (published in Polyhedron Magazine) was "Thunderball Rally", which revolved around the eponymous secret cross-country race. The writers made perfectly clear in the notes that, aside from a few twists added to make it more action-driven (one of the race's sponsors is TheMafia and they ''really'' don't like blabbers, for example), the setting is a huge homage to ''The Cannonball Run''.

** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-To-Shining-Sea_Memorial_Trophy_Dash Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash]] was specifically intended to protest the 55 mph speed limit of TheSeventies. In addition to the willful disregard for the speed limit, some drivers decided to use gimmicks like the team that dressed up as priests to troll the cops, a man who brought a police badge to pretend he was an undercover cop [[note]] the real cops saw right through it [[/note]], and the team that rigged up a van to look like an ambulance, complete with doctor and "patient" in the back, with the alibi that the "patient" had to get to California for a life saving operation.

* The RealLife [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-To-Shining-Sea_Memorial_Trophy_Dash Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash]] was an illegal coast-to-coast road race specifically intended to protest the 55 mph speed limit of TheSeventies. {{Downplayed}}: the only really wacky thing about it was the willful disregard for the speed limit.
** ...except for the team that rigged up a van to look like an ambulance, complete with doctor and "patient" in the back, with the alibi that the "patient" had to get to California for a life saving operation.
** ...or the team that trussed up their car like a German police car.
** ...or the teams that used airplanes as spotters to make sure they didn't run into police. But otherwise totally normal!

* The Cannonball had two successors in the 21st century. Both enforced limited budgets on their teams, ensuring some eccentricity in terms of vehicle:
** The 2904 was a race whose name refers to both the projected distance and the $2904 budget the racing teams were allowed to spend on their journey from New York City to San Francisco. Said total budget includes not only gas, food, and speeding tickets, but also ''the car itself''. The race had its last running in 2019.
** The [=C2C=] Express had a slightly more forgiving budget than the 2904 as teams could spend up to $3000 on their vehicle, but they could only pick cars made before 1980. The race ran from New York to Los Angeles, similar to the original Cannonball. Like the 2904, it last ran in 2019.

* ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' 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: [[TheHero MegaMan]] drove a F1 car, [[TheRival ProtoMan]] rode a CoolBike, [[TheChick Roll]] drove a silly-looking coupe, and [[TerribleTrio Force Three]] all rode together in a train.

* One of the earliest animated examples was the WesternAnimation/BettyBoop cartoon "Betty Boop's Ker-choo", where Betty Boop, Bimbo, Koko the Clown, and various anthropomorphic animals compete in an auto-race, [[SneezeOfDoom all while Betty has a cold.]]

** The second sequel added special abilities like BulletTime and sonic blasts which part the traffic ahead. The vehicles could now be customized by the player, so they could be as eccentric as desired.

* ''VideoGame/ReVolt'', similar to VideoGame/MicroMachines but with radio control cars, has EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs in the second game.

* ''WesternAnimation/FudencioESeusAmigos'': The seventh episode, "Corrida Mambembe", features all the main kids competing on a race for the canonization of Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna. Funérea is the only one who doesn't participate, with multiple [[CutawayGag Cutaway Gags]] showing her just watching TV at her bedroom.

* The fifth ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'' novel actually has one of these as a special, one-off event to celebrate the adding of the space elevator to the Unlimited Field. Since the kings customarily do not take part in such events, Haruyuki uses it as a chance to convince Sky Raker to rejoin Nega Nebulous on a full-time basis to round out their four-person team. Of course something happens to interrupt it.

%%* ''Anime/RedLine'' takes this to ridiculous levels. Tailenders, too.

** An episode of [[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries the priginal series]] had a race between trainers riding one of their Pokémon (or in one case, Pikachu riding Squirtle).

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2apYrKvgLw This 2014 Peugeot commercial]] brilliantly recreates a live-action version of the ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' cartoon, culminating in the protagonist giving Penelope Pitstop a ride and kicking Muttley out of his car.

* [[Suspension arm Left, Lower, Front Axle
MOOG FI-WP-4685 This 2014 Peugeot commercial]] brilliantly recreates a live-action version of the ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' cartoon, culminating in the protagonist giving Penelope Pitstop a ride and kicking Muttley out of his car.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1CjGTFgoY This 2014 Peugeot commercial]] brilliantly recreates a live-action version of the ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' cartoon, culminating in the protagonist giving Penelope Pitstop a ride and kicking Muttley out of his car.

* This is the reason why Supersurf, a SkySurfing competitive tournament, is traditionally illegal in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd''; SkySurfing itself is legal, but is done at high altitudes where there's plenty of open air for people to move around in. Supersurf, by comparison, is done much lower, using the crowded MegaCity environment to generate obstacles and really test a sky-surfer's judgment and agility. Sky-surfers frequently die in Supersurf, and often cause accidents that can kill many other people in the process. In Supersurf 11, the man who organizes the tournament turns it into a ''deliberate'' death course, with lethal booby traps and even gun encampments ordered to open fire on the racers -- the racers only compete when he manages to appeal to their ego, and it ended in a KillEmAll scenario until it was retconned away.

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* ''Steampunk Rally'' is basically ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'', but it stars famous historical figures ([[GuestFighter and Doctor Emmet Brown]]), and every Invention (the vehicle) is TheAllegedCar, and half the game is keeping your bastardized homunculus of a vehicle intact.