Cartoon Car Toons!

Help! Help! That’s most popular line ever said by Penelope Pitstop in a highly southern tone in every episode of the Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop! In the hit TV series Wacky Races, she drives the Compact Pussycat - a pink, stereotypically feminine car with exclusive grooming amenities. She was named by the race announcer as the “Glamour Gal of the Gas Pedal”. Wacky Races was inspired by The Great Race and Penelope was inspired by the Maggie DuBois character (played by Natalie Wood in the film) as well.

Penelope Pitstop is the only female racer, driving a pink feminine car with personal grooming facilities which would sometimes backfire on the other racers - like shampoo foam striking the faces of the other racers. She always has time to relax and be anxious about her looks because her car is like a beauty salon. Peter Perfect had a crush on her - a feeling that was kind of mutual and so he is always there to help her. In one episode, they almost end up marrying each other. Unlike other race cars, the Compact Pussycat was not an often target by the other racers as it seems they also liked and tried to help her like Peter and the Ant Hill Mob. Penelope also had her own cartoon show which was entitled The Perils of Penelope Pitstop in which it featured the Ant Hill mob as well.

Penelope was an late addition in the growth of Wacky Races according to Iwao Takamoto. Joseph Barbera asked for a woman to be added among the racers. Takamoto and Jerry Eisenberg designed Penelope and her car in about two hours because of Mr. Barbera’s request.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop was apparently based from the Wacky Races which featured Penelope as the lead character and this was set in the 1920s. Penelope was a usual “damsel in distress” stock personality as in the old serial The Perils of Pauline. Her catchphrase was “Help, help!” which is spoken in an exaggerated upper-class U.S. South accent. In this show, Penelope displayed a nosy combination of cleverness and vulnerability. She frequently figured out bright ways to get out of perils, and was very athletic - if any sport happened to be brought up, it was revealed that she was the women’s champion in said sport in college. However, when the Hooded Claw grabbed her, she would somehow be incapable of doing anything other than screaming for help!