Series
- The very fact that the Racer family, while happy and tight knit, is incomplete, given that the oldest brother Rex ran off years earlier after a fight with Pops. To make it worse, Rex actually wants to go home, but because of his involvement with secret organizations and crime-fighting, he can't.
- From "The Most Dangerous Race" three-parter, Speed crashes into a ravine and wakes up temporarily blind from the sun-exposure. As he struggles to find the Mach 5, Snake Oiler arrives to gloat over his anticipated victory and Speed's misfortune. For a brief moment, Speed actually cries, either for a devastating loss, the feeling he'll never get help, or both. Thankfully, he powers through with the help of Racer X.
- In "The Man on the Lam", the robber Lawson Lanster is reunited with his daughter Delicia whom he hasn't seen since she was a baby. He also learns that she became blind, and that her mother is busy trying to earn money for Delicia's operation. He doesn't tell her that he's her father, letting her think he's a friend of his. At the end of the episode, his dying wish to Speed is to give his eyes to Delicia. Speed and Trixie tells her that he had to leave and to look up at the sky whenever she thinks of him.
- Race For Revenge Part 2:
- When Speed ends up crashing the melange and Flash ends up crashing his helicopter and dying. Speed's friends and family think him to be dead with Spritle and Trixie both breaking down in tears while Pops wishes he'd never heard of racing and Inspector Detector blames himself for Speed's apparent death.
- Lily lamenting how Flash was once a good kid and how it's a shame he turned into a vengeful psycho after his dad was killed.
- The finale in the subbed version. Speed, while he's ultimately crowned the World Champion Racer, is left wondering why despite winning, he feels so lonely as opposed to just being happy about it like he thought he would. We then see Racer X watching him from afar, silently telling Speed how the champion will always be alone.* Speed: Masked Racer... Where are you? I won... But does winning always feel this complicated? This lonely? Why can't I just be happy about it?
- When Speed learns from Racer X about who Kabala really was. He was never a mysterious cruel man who caused terrible accidents in every race he was in, but a a kind racer who mentored Racer X when he was just beginning to race. Sadly, when they did compete against each other, there was a landslide. Racer X managed to avoid it, but Kabala wasn't as lucky. The only thing that remained was his mask. The sub takes this up a notch when Speed finds out what the race he's competing in really is about, leaving him both hurt and angry.(Racer X has just finished explaining to Speed why he had disguised himself as Kabala.)Racer X: So I decided to disguise myself as him and race for the Inca village.Speed: "For the Inca village"?Racer X: That's right. This race all started because of a conflict between the Inca chief and that bureaucrat Pisaro.Speed: What conflict?Racer X: Which is better: Inca culture or modern culture? And which culture has a champion? And if the Inca Curse loses, it was promised that the Inca village would be opened up.Speed: That's totally absurd! (He turns to leave before looking back at Racer X) We're all just puppets! We are all risking our lives in this race for that?! Masked Racer, this time I've really lost respect for you. Do you know how many racers have died in this race? Do you know how many?! (Speed starts walking back to the Mach 5.) It's 300 kilometers to the exit.Racer X: Wait, Go!(Speed hops into the Mach 5 and looks back.)Speed: All I care about now is getting out of here alive!(Starting the engine, Speed drives off.)
Film
- The family watching Rex's Face–Heel Turn and subsequent death. Even knowing what will probably happen as a result of knowing the cartoon, watching the family deal with this is downright heartbreaking.Pops: Don't you turn your back on me! If you walk out that door now, don't you ever come back.
- Few people with a sibling can avoid Inelegant Blubbering or at the very least Manly Tears when Speed lets his foot off the gas to let his dead brother's lap record stand.
- Near the end of the film, John Goodman's Pops is heartbreakingly sincere as he refuses to make the same mistake he did with Rex, assuring Speed that he will always love him and welcome him home no matter what.Pops: I didn't lose Rex when he crashed. I lost him here. I let him think that a stupid motor company meant more to me than he did. You'll never know how much I regret that mistake. It's enough I'll never make it again. Speed, I understand that every child has to leave home. But I want you to know, that door is always open. You can always come back. 'Cause I love you.
- The scene in the end where we see the truth about Racer X's identity; he truly is Rex, having faked his death and undergone plastic surgery in order to disguise his true identity to protect Speed and his family. Made all the more heart-wrenching by Rex's decision to not reveal the truth to his family, saying it's a mistake he will have to live with. The score during the moment only adds to the waterworks.
- When Racer X visits the Racer home with Inspector Detector. First and foremost, it's Rex's first time home in ten years, and there is no chance of it being a happy homecoming. Secondly, there's a two second look that X gives Spritle. In that moment, Rex realizes that he has another little brother, but he'll never be able to get to know or develop a relationship with this one.
