Shark Bytes

I enjoyed this cartoon every Saturday morning. Back then, you never heard about Jumping The Shark. If Dastardly had stopped setting up traps he may have actually won a race. I really didn't care too much when Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dastardly each got their own show, but I guess The Wacky Races couldn't come up with anything new.

Penelope DID have a vibrator option in her car. It was one of those belts that goes round your waist and is meant to help you tone up your stomach muscles. I was confused about that for years.
^..^

This show is so darn cute! I don't know how I missed it when I was a kid--I remember "Dastardly & Muttley", but I didn't even know about Penelope's show OR this one until I was an adult. I discovered "The Wacky Races" after my son was born and I was home with him a lot--I often channel-surfed while I was feeding him or rocking him to sleep. At that time the show was on Cartoon Network. I've seen both of the spinoff shows and they're good too, but I like "Wacky Races" better because there are so many different characters in it. I like Pat Pending best. It would be fun to have a car like his--or one with makeup-applying gadgets like Penelope's!

I remember seeing this in syndication on WXON here in Detroit. Must have been 27 years ago or so. They always played these types of shows during the summer months. They were sort of the non-mainstream HB stuff.

My favorite racer was the Ant Hill Mob. Probably because the leader acted a bit like Moe of the 3 stooges.

I always hoped DD would win a race sometime. It always frustated me that he would get way ahead and try to set a trap for the other guys. Why not just continue your pace and win. Always bugged me back then.

Some of these posts about Penelope are real funny.

Stop the Pigeon was no good except for Muttley. He was funny. Weren't there two other guys that flew around in that show. One of them always would pull his head into his coat as if to hide from whatever danger presented itself.

Just once I wished Dick Dastardly actually won. I still remember he was inches from the finish line when he was roped by some local character of the day he crossed paths with earlier. I liked the show, but I was starting to sympathize with Dastardly that he never won. Everyone else won a race, though I hated Penelope won because she's a "lady" and the Cool Race Driver let her win.

have to disagree with the anon poster who claimed that the Army Surplus Special could've deployed therir weapons against their fellow racers. I'm pretty sure that the Wacky Races Committee had a rule against the use of ordnance. Maybe it's the nerd in me talking, but I feel that Prof Pat Pending was the logical favourite to win. But JTS? Never!

indeed a good cartoon that stood the test of time it was stil in sydication in the early 1990s when i saw it
it was over the top in plot but never jumped but that hanna babera background that never changes is intresting i rember we all use to laugh at this show it was pure comedy
much like loony tunes were there was the smart arese professor the arkansas chungger bug and the rock brothers (yes high octane low iq) but each story had the same kind of plot is that why its on this site i guess but
i liked the geogpaphy in the show one story in wyoming next on in new mexico
an of acourse the idiot that never wins

'Stop the Pigeon' and 'The Perils of Penelope Pitstop' never came close to matching Wacky Races for comic inventiveness. The variety of cars and characters in the original series is what provided the laughs. I still enjoy it forty years on, but I haven't bothered watching the two spin-offs since 1971! A shame Dick Dastardly never won a race, though! All the kids wanted him to!

This cartoon would have jumped the shark if Dick Dastardly had won a race. I looked forward to this cartoon every Saturday morning. It would have been nice if there were more episodes but I guess you have to run out of ideas sooner or later. I enjoyed Dick Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines. The Perils of Penelope Pitstop was okay.

Okay, so the Wacky Races jumped the shark when Dastardly & Muttley along with Penelope Pitstop got their own shows but I think it was more of a plus that they did. On DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES, Dick had to worry about jumping something else other than the shark; that something else was Muttley. The 2 along with Klunk and Zilly tried in futility to stop Yankee Doodle Pigeon and Dastardly got an earful from the general when the pigeon escaped. On THE PERILS OF PENELOPE PITSTOP, Penelope was running for her life from the Hooded Claw. Penelope (witb her blonde hair, facial beauty, and Nancy Sinatra-esc go-go boots) was a cartoon charactor and chick to be crazy for and on the same level as Sinatra, Farrah Fawcett, and Suzanne Somers. Penelope didn't have to jump the shark, the plank was pulled out from under her twice. The first time was the Charlie's Angels episode, AN ANGEL'S TRAIL when Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett's character) was abducted by a killer and was saved by little sister Kris. Far too similar to Pelnelope's predictament for comfort. The second time was the Plasticman show sold. Nothing to fret except that Plasticman's babe was named Penny (In the Wacky Races, Penelope Pitstop was called Penny for short by a number of fellow competitors). That character was a blatant, moral watchdog ripoff of Penelope Pitstop and the producers wanted to make Penny (Plasticman's babe) the natural mother of Baby Plas and in the process they made Penelope Pitstop look like the kind of dixie chick that is associated with president bashing as far as some are concerned. If Josie and the cats are as good as cartoon show as Tennesee's Lady Vols are superb a college basketball, Penelope Pitstop was as exploited by that Plasticman show as the Rutgers womens basketball team was by Imus's comments. If it's true that second best is seldem remembered, it is so long as second best doesn't have to endure humiliation.

I watch this cartoon sometimes on Boomerang, Muttley is so funny, I love it when he laughs everytime Dastardly screws up, and I also like it when he gets mad and grumbles even though I can't understand what he's saying, I tell you they don't make good cartoons like this anymore, today's cartoons are garbage! and to quote Colonel Sherman Potter on (M*A*S*H*) about today's cartoons, "That is 100% Bull Cookies!"

I remember this show from when I was growing up, and while I loved it I have to disagree with many of the other posts about the spin-offs. I was and remain a proud member of Dick Dastardly's squadron (it was a cereal promotion and I got a little booklet with an eraser or something). And as for "Perils," come on, I was like eight years old, I had no idea what the plot was; I just knew that for some reason I wanted to see Penelope Pitstop get tied up every weekend. Is it wrong? Not so long as I take my medication!

Wacky Races was the best. But let's be honest. Professor Pat Pending should have won every single race. His car could do EVERYTHING. Even at 8, I knew something was wrong with his all-too-often middle-of-the-pack finishes!

Loved WACKY RACES when I was a kid. It wasn't THE FLINTSTONES, but it was a very entertaining kids show that held my attention. I loved the funny names for the cities where the races would start and end. I remember one race ended in Wot Will, Delaware. I thought that was very funny for some reason. I don't why, but I always wanted Penelope Pitstop to win. I guess because she was the only female competitor and I was thrilled when she was spun off in THE PERILS OF PENELOPE PITSTOP, which I also loved. And were they ever better TV villains than Dick Dastardly and Mutley? I don't think so. WACKY RACES was an underrated classic that never jumped.

"Wacky Races" never jumped-it was one of HB's better cartoons. Not a classic like "The Flintstones" but right up there. I really enjoy the posts for this show- sounds like a lot of posters were around my age (8 to 9) when this show was on- the memories are special because there was no other racing cartoon at this time (except for "Speed Racer"), which was more of a serious, adventure-type cartoon. I LOL'd at the posters who talked about enjoying Quisp and Quake- where did those cereals go? They were great! My favorite racers back then were the Slag Brothers and the car that had saw blades for wheels with the lumberjack and the beaver. And who could forget Dastardly and Muttley? That snicker of Muttley's and Dastardly's evil chuckle as he plotted another dirty trick are timeless. I have seen episodes on CN's "Boomerang" and I still think they're great. Just reminds me that no matter how old one gets, it's still nice to retain some of one's childhood. "Wacky Races" rules-thanks, HB!