Inspector Gadget Wiki
Inspector Gadget Wiki
Gadgetpedia
1,354
pages
in: Episodes, Inspector Gadget Episodes, Season 1 Episodes,
and 3 more

Race to the Finish

Sign in to edit
“ There's nothing like a little racing to stir the blood! Yahoo! „
~ Gadget



"Race to the Finish" is the 9th episode of the first season of Inspector Gadget. It is the 11th episode in production order.

Synopsis[]

Gadget, Penny, and Brain are on their way to the Metropolis 500 (a parody of the Indianapolis 500) where a car race will take place. Gadget wishes to participate in the race and win the prize. Penny says that Claw may also be trying to win the race, but Gadget doesn't believe it. Then Claw appears in a big truck and traps the Gadget clan inside. After managing to escape, Gadget receives another assignment from Quimby: He has to participate in the car race to stop Claw from winning.

Inspector Gadget enters the Gadgetmobile in the race and Claw sends one of his M.A.D. agents to damage the participants' cars. While Brain tries to fix them, he gets again chased by Gadget. Penny sneaks to Claw's garage but gets trapped and knocked out by a knock-out gas. Gadget chases Brain to the garage and ends up stuck in the wall. Penny wakes up and she and Brain help Gadget get out of the wall.

Dr. Claw, using the alias "Dr. Clawberry", has entered his M.A.D. Mobile as car number M-1, while the Gadgetmobile is number 35.

The race begins and several of the participants' cars break down as soon as they start their engines. Gadget is almost to late to make it to the starting line, where his two back wheels pop off. Serving as his crew, Penny and Brain convince him to make a pit stop. Meanwhile Dr. Claw sabotages every other racer that comes near. Having already missed the first lap, Gadget starts the Gadgetmobile, and shoots off in reverse. He extends both of his arms to grab onto a couple of poles on each side of the road and catapults his vehicle in the right direction.

Gadget and Claw are leading the race. During the break, the M.A.D. agent gives Gadget a drink with some weird substance. After drinking it, Gadget becomes drunk and starts to drive dangerously. Penny saves the day by using her computer book to remote control the Gadgetmobile. Claw turns his M.A.D. Mobile into the jet and wins the race, but he's disqualified for flying out of the track, thus making Gadget the winner. Unfortunately, Quimby inadvertently ruins Gadget's dreams of winning the prize by saying that the Gadgetmobile is on official duty. What about Gadget? He ends up driving off the course and into some bales of hay, where he falls asleep.

In the epilogue, Gadget and Penny talk about the aftermath of the race while sitting in the empty stands together, and teach a lesson about good driving habits such as buckling up and not drinking and driving (which Brain demonstrates in comedic detail).

Featuring Voices of[]

Trivia[]

  • Don Francks's performance as Claw was not completely dubbed over in this episode.
  • This is the first regular episode in airing order where Penny uses her computer book, something previously shown in the pilot episode.
  • This is one of several episodes of the original series with mature content. Gadget's finger pen is shown to be his right middle finger, and a few onlookers react as though he intentionally flipped them off.
  • Unlike in other episodes, Penny gradually loses her patience with Gadget's antics and ultimately takes matters into her own hands by taking control of the Gadgetmobile with her computer book when M.A.D. gets Gadget drunk.
  • Animation of Gadget running into the M.A.D. garage was reused for the closing credits sequence.

Gadgets used[]

Locations[]

  • Metropolis 500 race tracks

Chief Quimby's disguise[]

  • None

Self-destructing message[]

  • "Dr. Claw has secretly entered the Metropolis 500. If he wins, he will use the $1,000,000 to further finance crime. Your assignment is to enter the race and make sure he doesn't win. This message will self-destruct."

Chief Quimby's reaction to being blown up[]

  • None

Brain's disguises[]

  • A mechanic

Gadgetmobile Gadgets:[]

  • Converts from Gadget van to sportscar
  • Bumper claw extends and grabs hold of exhaust on M.A.D. mobile
  • Water pistol pops up from the hood

M.A.D. Agents[]

  • Fred as a mechanic
  • Lenny as second mechanic (cameo)

Pop culture references[]

  • Indianapolis 500 - the Metropolis 500 is a parody

Home media releases[]

  • Race to the Finish (The Maier Group)

Gadget Goofs[]

  • Continuity: During the final lap, when Dr. Claw is about to fire missiles at the Gadgetmobile, in one shot the M.A.D. Mobile has the number 35 (Gadget's number) on it's hood instead of M-1.

Gallery[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.