Wacky Races / YMMV

Accidental Innuendo: At least one episode, "Speeding for Smogland'', shows a VIBRATOR option on Penelope Pitstop's dashboard.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Dick Dastardly constantly gets far enough ahead before stopping to cheat (he sets up his traps off-screen, and it typically takes minutes for anyone to even get near his position on the course), proving him to be the best racer out of all of them. Isn't it more likely he has more fun losing creatively than the hollow victory of an easy win? Or is he simply too fixated on cheating to realize he's good enough to win without having to cheat?
- Did Dick's genie make honest mistakes or was he intentionally twisting Dick's commands out of hatred for having to do a bad guy's bidding?
Awesome Music: The Intro Theme is an upbeat, almost big-band/blues style piece that establishes the tone of the series.
Broken Aesop: The infamous ending to the episode "Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist" is this, since it attempts to uphold the show's aesop of "Dick Dastardly never wins, because he cheats" by... having the judges literally cheat Dick Dastardly out of a legitimate win. The short explanation is that Dick wins the race by driving crossing the finish line first, but then the judges demand a replay. In the replay footage, Dick is instead shown in the 4th place and extending his nosecone out with a collapsible spring to cross over the finish line first, which the judges rule is worthy of disqualification. The problem is, it's not a Dastardly-exclusive trick; Peter Perfect uses the length of his Turbo Terrific to score on several occasions, and Rufus Ruffcut actually won the race in one episode by extending his neck so as to cross the line with his head first. As the judges didn't have any problem with Peter or Rufus on those occasions, it just comes off as blatant bias against Dick.
Designated Villain: Dick Dastardly has shades. He repeatedly cheats to win, but the other racers often cheat too or have unfair advantages thanks to gadgets attached to their vehicles, yet Dastardly is framed as the villain and the other races framed as innocent. In many episodes, Dastardly's traps are meant to take other racers out of the race permanently, but in some episodes he doesn't do anything worse than the other competitors, yet is still treated as a scoundrel. And in one race he was disqualified for extending the Mean Machines nose, a tactic that shouldn't even matter since the other racers would have done something similar.
Fanfic Fuel: Much of the Forever pilot. Who is that man Dastardly and Muttley are working for? What’s Peter and Penelope’s married life like? What happened to the Gruesome Twosome? Why did Pat go mad? What do the other five racers we didn’t see look like in this continuity?
Fair for Its Day: Penelope's stereotypical feminine mannerisms would be seen as quaint at best and offensive at worst by today's standards. But one must also consider that this show, which first ran in 1968, portrayed a woman driving along with the rest of the male drivers in a what was probably then a man's only sport and earned 1st place four times (and 2nd and 3rd two and six times respectively) across the entire run. She's not considered a joke by the other racers, who treat her as a legitimate competitor (some will flirt with her, but then she either pulls ahead or takes advantage of their distraction). She also doesn't accept being mistreated or disrespected, showing that despite her worrying about her makeup a little too much, she at the very least has a healthy amount of self-respect, rather than simply taking verbal abuse quietly.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- Considering that Speed Racer^note is fairly popular in Japan, it only makes sense that this show is too. Dick Dastardly in particular is the most popular Hanna-Barbera character in Japan.
- The show is also very fondly recalled in Latin America, to the point one Brazilian car commercial featured a Live-Action adaptation of it.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Now, the name "Dick" is all the more fitting.
Just Here for Godzilla: Some fans only watch the series for Dick Dastardly and Muttley's antics.
Memetic Mutation:
- Rassin' frassin'...
- Muttley's wheezy laugh.
Rooting for the Empire: Inevitably kicks in with Dick Dastardly sooner or later. Between him being the most memorable and entertaining character, his ability to get ahead of the other races before he starts cheating, and how often he screws himself out of winning because he resorts to cheating, you wish the guy would be allowed to win a race just once. It seems other writers thought this way too, as Dastardly would actually get to win in appearances after the series. Granted, there was usually a catch, but the fact that he actually won when he never did in the series proper is enough for many.
Smurfette Breakout: Penelope Pitstop was the only female racer, and got her own spinoff series.
Unpopular Popular Character: In-universe, Dick Dastardly is despised for always cheating and mocked for always failing. Meanwhile, the fans love him because he delights in being a cheating bastard and pity him for not winning.
Values Dissonance: Penelope with her stereotypical feminine mannerisms and car with cosmetic gear would never pass muster today. A 2001 Cartoon Network Web Animation short, "Penelope Pitstop GT", shows how she can be updated.
Woolseyism: In the Spanish dub for Latin America, Dick Dastardly was turned into a Frenchman, called Pierre Nodoyuna (Nodoyuna -"No doy una"- is a colloquial Spanish term for "I always fail"). The change actually helped Dastardly's appeal in the Spanish-speaking countries, and he still remains a fairly popular character.

YMMV / Wacky Races

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