Dickie Ranford

Richard "Dickie" Ranford is a minor character in Speed Racer: The Next Generation. He is the former owner of Ranford Automotive, Ranford Airlines, and Ranford Cola.

He was Zile Zazic's main business competitor and always outbested him. Much like Zile, he is a dishonest crook who lied and cheated to sustain his wealth, while suppressing his true motives through good public relations.

He claims to have created a car that runs on less gasoline and can get hundreds of miles per gallon. However, when his fraudulent activities were exposed, the stockholders of Ranford Automotive were angered over this and dumped their stocks, forcing the company to go bankrupt.

He serves as the main antagonist of the "Comet Run" arc.

Biography
Dickie Ranford is one of the wealthiest individuals, surpassing even Zile in net worth. He is of British descent and is well known throughout the world as his company has three branches of business that contribute to everyday life.

Ranford makes his first appearance in “Comet Run: Part 1,” where he interrupts Zile’s staged press conference to announce his eco-friendly car. There, he offers a three-day competition to the students at Racer Academy, where the winner will get control of his company. By proposing this challenge, Ranford used this opportunity to showcase his eco car’s performance and to drive up sales.

He loses the first race to Speed but then sabotages the Mach 6 by pushing a boulder onto the Mach 6, crushing it in the process, as well as Chim-Chim (who was protecting it). After this, Ranford continues to rig the race in his favor by changing the gasoline pitstop sign to throw off the other racers, giving him an indefinite lead to win.

The biggest cheat that he enacted was the usage of gasoline on his “eco-friendly” car. Ranford lied about his car and its performance and hid his gasoline storage in a bunch of Ranford Cola soda cans. He then used an emissions collector to conceal the usage of leaded gasoline.

Once the race was over, his car and motives were exposed. He then tries to flee but is soon apprehended by the Racer Academy campus security and detained until the police arrived. Ranford claimed that he had enough money to “buy his way out of jail” but was later interrupted by his butler who said he’ll confess all their crimes. It is assumed that Ranford is sentenced to prison afterwards.

Trivia

 * He's a trillionaire.
 * He beat out Zile as "Business Man of the Year" for Car & Racer magazine.
 * He is Zile's arch-rival.
 * He always outbid Zile in auctions.
 * He built the world's biggest yacht, beating Zile for the title.
 * He is one of the very few people in the world richer than Zile.
 * Since Speed and friends altered the timeline, the events of "Comet Run" perhaps never took place and Dickie Ranford was never sentenced to prison. Therefore, Ranford Automotive should still be around and not bankrupted.
 * He is arrogant.
 * His own butler hates him, which is why he chose never to speak. This changes once they were apprehended and he confessed all their crimes.