* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is the actor who offers to help Angie's career and claims she has a remarkable presence sincere, or just setting the stage for a CastingCouch ploy?
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Franco (Creator/RaulJulia) is one of the best-remembered characters due to being a quotable LargeHam and BadassDriver.
* HarsherInHindsight: Roscoe's efforts to stop the Gumball Rally were probably originally motivated by a desire for highway safety. (He is a police officer, after all.) The fact that he fails at this became Harsher in Hindsight when his actor, Normann Burton, died in a car accident.
* HilariousInHindsight: The main antagonist of the film is a somewhat inept police officer named Roscoe. A few years later came ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'', whose antagonist is an even more inept sheriff named Roscoe.
* SignatureLine:
** Franco boasting that "And now my friend, the first-a rule of Italian driving: what's-a behind me is not important.”
** Jane's flirting, TemptingFate line before a race, "If you can catch me, you can have me!"
%%* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Film/TheCannonballRun'' and its sequels.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The Chevrolet team is eliminated in a contrived fashion well before the end and the drivers aren't fleshed out much. This is a shame, as their plan to take turns sleeping while constantly pouring gas into their fuel tank as they drive attracted a lot of interest. It could have been better if this had happened closer to the finish line and their strategy had brought them closer to victory.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Made and set in TheSeventies, with a significant motivation for the race being a protest against new regulations like the mandatory catalytic converter (which reduces pollution but also restricts the exhaust, lowering performance) and the nationwide 55mph speed limit.

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