Wacky Races remains one of my all-time favourite cartoons. All the characters had their respective charms and quirks, but the canonical baddy, Dick Dastardly, was my favourite. He was the perfect pantomime villain who’d stop and nothing to cheat his way to victory. Of course he never got one in the series (which pained me as a kid—don’t ask why I was rooting for the villain) but in real life, he did (kinda) via a Red Bull Soapbox Race in Lisbon in 2018.
The “Mean Machine” team entered the 3rd Red Bull Lisbon Grand Prix as a family (the Uehara’s), all dressed up as various characters from the cartoon. But it was Dick Dastardly behind the wheel, with Muttley in tow and my goodness were they fast. So fast, in fact, that they won and crossed the finish line in style. I watched this back on Christmas Day and it filled my heart with so much joy.