With a little help from Nelson taking out pre-race favorite Milhouse, Bart wins the annual Springfield Elementary "Last Day of School Race Around the School," but doesn't feel proud of it. Meanwhile, Homer tries to bring back the Fourth of July town picnic after the town cancels it due to budget cuts.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Those who participated in the race were Jessica Lovejoy, Micheal D'Amico and the "Sinatra Kid".
- Continuity Nod: Michael D'Amico is described in this episode as Fat Tony's nephew. This makes this episode the first after Donnie Fatso to acknowledge the fact that the current Fat Tony isn't the original one.
- Cowardice Callout: Bart is publicly branded a coward after it's revealed that he allowed frontrunner Milhouse to get beaten up by Nelson (who bet money on Bart) rather than help him.
- Dirty Coward: Grandpa states he hitch back on the landing boats on D-Day than take part in the battle. A move like that however would have had him imprisoned or shot for desertion.
- Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Santa's Little Helper gets angry with Bart until he finally makes it up to Milhouse.
- Fat Suit: Milhouse reveals to Bart that he's secretly been training for the school race, and has been wearing a "dummy tummy" so people don't notice how lean he's gotten.
- Karma Houdini: The bullies basically got away with rigging the race while Bart is branded a coward by the public.
- Meaningful Name: When Homer's plans to bring back the town picnic put people's lives in danger, Grandpa flees by hitching on a boat named "The Yellow Belly". "Yellow belly" is a term for "coward".
- Noodle Incident: Homer says he's enrolling Bart in camp over the summer, but Marge points out it's actually a prison road crew. Bart them comments he did that the previous summer and he isn't allowed back.
- Pet the Dog: Grandpa and Homer are really the only people to feel sorry for Bart when the truth is revealed. Grandpa even implies it was the right thing to do since there wasn't really anything Bart could do.
