* ActingForTwo:
** Dick Dastardly, Private Meekly and Clyde are voiced by Creator/PaulWinchell.
** Creator/DonMessick voices Muttley, Professor Pat Pending, Gravel Slag, Bella Gruesome, Ring-a-Ding and Sawtooth.
** Creator/DawsButler plays Rock Slag, Tiny Gruesome, Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect and Rufus Ruffcut.
** Luke and Blubber Bear are both played by John Stephenson.
* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: Several reference books have a character in the show called The General, as voiced by Creator/JohnStephenson. There was a one-shot general in the episode "The Speedy Arkansas Traveler", but the only military personnel in the regular cast were Sgt. Blast and Private Meekly.
* {{Defictionalization}}:
** The ''Goodwood Festival of Speed'' has built working replicas of all eleven of the vehicles (minus the extraneous gadgets and hijinks, of course). They even have people dress as the various drivers (using full body costumes for characters like Muttley and Sawtooth).
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcnsRrXzBC0 This Brazilian commercial for Peugeot]] is not only clever but deadly accurate with character depictions. Muttley is the only CGI figure.
* DubNameChange: The Mexican dub changed quite a few names, with changes ranging from MarketBasedTitle (the Buzzwagon became "Troncoswagen" due to Volkswagen being popular in Latin America), to CulturalTranslation (the Army Surplus Special became "Super Chatarra Especial" [Super Junk Special] because army surplus is not a thing in Latin America), to {{Woolseyism}} (Red Max became "Baron Hans Fritz" and his Crimson Haybailer became "Stuka Rakuda" to emphasize his German nationality).
* EditedForSyndication: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x0wST_TKE4 The original end credits]] had narration from Dave Willock playing over it, as well as a line from Dick Dastardly, explaining why Dick's mouth is seen moving in the music-only credits.
* FollowTheLeader: The cartoon is pretty clearly inspired by the 1965 film ''Film/TheGreatRace'' with its similar premise, similar character archetypes, and DickDastardlyStopsToCheat turning into HoistByHisOwnPetard gags.
* FountainOfExpies:
** You'd be surprised how many Muttley clones there are. If not clones, there are those who mimic his signature laugh.
** Thanks to the legal issues regarding Heatter-Quigley, some of H-B's MegaCrossover series like ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics'' couldn't use Dick Dastardly, forcing H-B to create the Dread Baron instead.[[note]]He and Mumbly would later appear in the Superstars 10 movie ''Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose''.[[/note]]
* TheOtherDarrin: Dick Dastardly is voiced by Creator/JimCummings in the Platform/SegaDreamcast video game and the ''Wacky Races Forever'' pilot, due to Paul Winchell's death. Creator/RobPaulsen has also portrayed the character in ''WesternAnimation/YoYogi''.
* RoleReprise: While most of the voices in the Dreamcast game are [[TheOtherDarrin soundalikes]], Creator/JanetWaldo and John Stephenson reprised their respective roles as Penelope Pitstop, and as Luke and Blubber Bear.
* ReferencedBy: For more references, see WackyRacing.
** Fellow Hanna-Barbera toon ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had the episode "Dexter's Wacky Races". They even use Hoyt Curtin's BackgroundMusic from ''Wacky Races'' as well as Ted Nichols' music from ''Motormouse and Autocat'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop''.
** ''[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsSpecial1 The Powerpuff Girls Rule!]]'' had the cast compete in their own wacky race for the Key to the World.
** There's also one episode of the old Gundam OVA series.
** ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' even gets in the act in the episode "Handicar." The racers are mainly comprised of some of the episode's characters, but they even throw in Dick Dastardly and Muttley as well (both looking long in the tooth after 45-plus years).
** The ''Anime/TimeBokan: Royal Revival'' OVA pitted its series' villains against one another for the ultimate prize of starring in the next series of the franchise.
** ''Anime/AppareRanman'' is a mix between this and its inspiration ''The Great Race'', focusing on a Trans-America race filled with ''Wacky Races''-inspired cars.
** The ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' episode "Iyami Kart" had the cast compete over who would be the protagonist of the series. Unique in that the DickDastardlyStopsToCheat moment is done by the race's host himself so that he could win by default.
** ''Anime/PopTeamEpic'' has a segment parodying the series that features LawyerFriendlyCameo versions of Dastardly and Muttley (coated in mosaic pattern) in one segment.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Early on in production, the show was meant to be more of a game show (hence Heatter-Quigley's involvement), with kids as the contestants wagering on which Wacky Racer would cross the finish line first; the cartoon would than play, and whoever guessed correctly would get a prize. The quiz show angle was quickly dropped by CBS and instead they aired the show as it is.
** There was an attempted revival of the series in 2006 called ''Wacky Races Forever'', but it didn't get picked up; the pilot circulates online.
** Peter Perfect's car was called the Varoom Roadster in development, and the Ant Hill Mob's car was the Roaring Plenty. They were changed, obviously, to the Turbo Terrific and the Bulletproof Bomb, but their developmental names were retained for the Gold Key Comics run.
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