Phineas and Ferb decide to get involved in racing, so they trick out the family car into a fully-fledged racing car, with Ferb making a remote since the boys don't know how to drive.
Meanwhile, Perry the Platypus must thwart Doofenshmirtz and his plan to deflate everything in the Tri-State Area, thus giving himself a monopoly on inflatable objects.
Tropes
- Answer Cut: When Linda is too late to the interview and ends up seeing a dandruff commercial, she says to Candace, “Is there something you want to tell me?” Cut immediately back to the race, where all the racers and Phineas in the tricked-out car are lining up.
- Artistic License – Physics: Hooking up the car remote to a larger battery makes the car go faster.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Candace notices the garage is empty and the boys and car are not back yet, she takes this as her cue to bust them to Mom, but she phrases her request to her vaguely. She brings Linda home and at first Mom is astonished, Candace thinking the boys are going to get busted, but then Linda smiles and excitedly thinks they washed her car (which she believes is what her daughter took her home for), and we see the now bare car back in the garage, all nice and clean from the car wash.
- Character Catchphrase: Believe it or not, this episode is the very first time that Candace tells her brothers they are "so busted"! (In "Rollercoaster", she only said her brothers were going "Down, down, down" and in "Candace Loses Her Head", Linda asks her daughter if she is trying to get her brothers in trouble.)
- Despite Doofenshmirtz's plans to sabotage the race, he never actually used the Deflate-inator to destroy any car tires. Instead, he fires into a random beach ball in the audience seats, which deflated and flew right into one of the driver's cars, which made his car crash into a billboard and cause it to fell into the track, and that causes the other racers to swerve and veer wildly as well.
- The Big Race: This episode focuses on Phineas and Ferb's participation in the Swamp Oil 500.
- Big "YES!": Candace's first comment when she thinks Linda busted Phineas and Ferb (but she actually thinks they washed her car).
- Big Red Button: One happens to be on the controller of the car; when pressed, it causes the car to temporarily launch into the sky before landing right back where it was before. Perry ends up using such to blast the now clean car into space and land right back in the garage of the Flynn-Fletcher house right when Candace brings Linda home.
- Cannot Spit It Out: A lot of problems could've been avoided if Candace simply told Linda about what happened to her car or rather, take a picture of the car with her phone to show her.
- Caught on the Jumbotron: Mistaking her for a fan, the Jumbotron in the race arena shows a clip of Candace angrily yelling Phineas' name in slow motion, causing her to feel embarrassed in front of Jeremy.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Big Red Button on the remote which makes the car blast into the atmosphere is used by Perry near the end to escape Doofenshmirtz and return the car to the Flynn-Fletcher house.
- Crazy-Prepared: When given a clue that beating Doofenshmirtz would involve cheese, Perry opens a suitcase filled with cheese and several cheese launching devices.
- Distant Reaction Shot: When Candace screams in horror upon realizing she took home the wrong photo, it cuts to a pan across the Danville skyline where the scream can be heard, ending at the D.E.I. blimp where even Doofenshmirtz hears.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Candace has a total of five busting attempts in this episode, making her role more malicious than usual. This is dropped in later episodes, though this record would be broken in the Grand Finale.
- Doof's teeth are sometimes shown as sharp, all-canine teeth when he starts feeling aggressive. This does not occur in other episodes.
- Like in "Rollercoaster", Major Monogram's message to Perry is implied to be prerecorded rather than a live video feed, as an "Incoming Message" screen appears with Perry clicking on a button.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Candace has these right after the broadcast to the race gets shorted out by Doofenshmirtz's blimp, and again when she realizes the car is back to normal.Candace: Meap.
Linda: Deal me back in, Viv. - Failed a Spot Check:
- When the clean car falls out of the sky and crashes into the garage, there should be a hole in the roof where it crashed through, but strangely neither Linda nor Candace saw it.
- Candace also doesn't bother to check the picture she took with her after leaving the race, something she doesn't notice until after showing it to Linda and realizes she brought her embarrassing photo instead.
- When Candace turns on the TV showing Phineas' win, Linda somehow does not hear the TV despite being nearby in the next room.
- Flapping Cheeks: When the car is put in super fast mode, Phineas' whole face is blown back.
- Glass-Shattering Sound: Perry manages to break free from his glass prison by making Doofenshmirtz's pet mouse go into his pants, causing Doofenshmirtz to scream in such a loud and high-pitched frequency to shatter glass.
- Hero Stole My Bike: After Doofenshmirtz's blimp crashes into the Swamp Oil 500 race, he tries to escape by stealing Phineas and Ferb's car and drives off. Luckily, Perry manages to catch him before he gets away too far.
- Idiot Ball: Candace has her phone in the beginning, so she has no excuse to not bring it with her to the race and opt to use a payphone and cameraman's camera instead.
- Iris Out: The episode closes on one, centered on the shocked and dumbfounded Candace.
- Jaw Drop: Candace, at the very end.Linda: Honey, close your mouth.
- Karma Houdini: Since Ferb is the one who's operating the car with the remote while Phineas is in the driver's seat, this is considered cheating; therefore, Phineas and Ferb would've been disqualified. They manage to get away with it, but it's unknown if they still have the trophy since Linda never saw it.
- Left the Background Music On: During the song "Go, Go, Phineas", Phineas himself is playing the electric guitar, with Ferb on keyboard.
- Loophole Abuse: Since the boys are not old enough to drive, Ferb drives Linda's car by using a remote. This loophole is used again in future episodes, such as "Out to Launch" and "The Secret to Success".
- Mirrors Reflect Everything: When Perry shoves Doofenshmirtz into the Deflate-Inator, it fires. The laser beam hits a giant mirror, bouncing back towards Doofenshmirtz' blimp, causing it to deflate.
- Mood Whiplash:Linda: (shocked) You mean...they...(Candace laughs, thinking her brothers are about to get busted)Linda: (excited) They washed my car!?!
- Nobody Can Die: Spoofed with a bunch of car wrecks, and then all the drivers waving and saying they are okay.
- Oh, Crap!: Candace, when she realizes she took home the wrong photo causing her to scream super loud. Her biggest one is at the very end when she sees the clean car back in the garage and Linda believes Phineas and Ferb washed her car, complete with a Jaw Drop.
- Oh, the Humanity!: When the blimp crashes into the TV tower, one of the announcers is heard beginning to say, "Oh, the hu—", before the picture and audio cut out.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Between Linda and Phineas vaguely in the final scene. She tells him she saw her car has been washed and thanks him for it; he thinks she was talking about seeing him on TV at the race with no confusion whatsoever.Linda: Hi, boys! I saw what you did today!
Phineas: Yeah? How'd you like it?
Linda: I LOVED it! - Pimped-Out Car: Mom’s car, which gets tricked out for the race.
- Plumber's Crack: Doof's buttcrack is exposed as he searches his fridge. Perry uses this to his advantage by shooting cheese at him.
- Poor Communication Kills: Done in the last scene: As Phineas and Ferb come home, Linda happily tells Phineas, "I saw what you did today!", referring to the car being washed. He does not hear her nor see the now bare car, and says, "Yeah? How'd you like it?", with "it" referring to the race and thinking she saw them on TV with no confusion whatsoever. Does not help that Candace was nearby, staring and smack-jawed, saying nothing to clarify what happened.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a pun on The Fast and the Furious series of racing and action films.
- Phineas and Ferb's life-sized RC car is numbered 42 after Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh's favorite racing driver who used that number for Chip Ganassi's NASCAR team at the time this episode was made.
- Squirrels in My Pants: Perry shoots a piece of cheese into Doofenshmirtz's pants, which makes the mouse that powers the Deflate-Inator follow the cheese and cause Doof great discomfort.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: When Ferb presses the red button on the remote, the car blasts upward right before Linda comes out; when Linda returns inside, the car lands back on the road.
- Stock Audio Clip: Candace shouting "Phineas!" in one scene is recycled from the intro.
- Subverted Catchphrase: Perry returns in the end, but no one acknowledges his presence.
- Tim Taylor Technology: Hooking up the car remote to a larger battery for extra juice.
- Tuckerization: The Swamp Oil 500 race in Jefferson County is named for co-creator Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, and a Poven-Lube Motor Oil billboard can be seen, named for Dan Povenmire. Also, caricatures of Marsh and Povenmire appear as the race commentators, although they are voiced by radio hosts Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps of The Mark & Brian Show on KLOS radio in Los Angeles.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Announcer: "And with the race about to start, there's the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated blimp!"
- As a sidenote, this marks the first appearance of the Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. Evil Jingle.
- The Voiceless: Ferb doesn't speak at all, making this the first time he does not say anything.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- When the car goes through the car wash, all the exterior modifications are washed off, but Phineas and Ferb also swapped the engine, which could not have been removed by the car wash.
- During the scene where the Fireside Girls give a pit stop, Milly is strangely absent despite being with the rest of the girls prior to the race.
