Jack "Cannonball" Taylor



Jack "Cannonball" Taylor is a superstar racecar driver for Royalton Industries. He appears in the Movie and the Videogame.

Background
Jack "Cannonball" Taylor is considered one of the greatest drivers in the WRL. He is a two-time Grand Prix winner and five-time WRL champion. His car, The GRX, is one of the most technologically advanced cars ever built.

Description
Jack "Cannonball" Taylor is first seen in a luxurious restaurant inside the Royalton Industries' headquarters. Spritle and Chim Chim are shocked to see him. Arnold Royalton then introduces Jack to Speed Racer, gives him his background, and says that Jack is a future hall-of-famer. Speed is honored to meet Jack and they shake hands. Jack tells Speed that he saw a replay of Speed's performance at Thunderhead and says it is a "nice piece of work." Speed thanks him and Jack says, "It was a rumor you might be visiting." Speed replies with, "It's pretty impressive." Jack then mentions that the only thing he cares about was a wall of trophies on one side of the restaurant and says that is what sold him and tells Speed he is "talking to the right guy" if he wants to win in this league. Afterwards, Speed, his family, and Royalton leave on the cart, and Jack is seen glancing menacingly at Speed. Following this, Jack is not seen again, until later in the film at the Grand Prix where he shows up in a 2006 Faralli & Mazzanti Antas V8 GT. Jack is then seen discussing with Royalton about the latter's goal of having Speed being taken out during the race. Royalton states that the driver who succeeds in this will earn $1,000,000 and Jack states that Speed will not even get out of the blocks and Royalton says he would prefer Speed to not even make it out of the locker room. Jack is also seen in his racing outfit in the locker room, and the film switches back to his conversation with Royalton who says that they are installing a spear hook in the GRX. Jack is angered and says he does not need one to beat Speed but Royalton states it is a precaution and leaves. Jack is then seen at the Grand Prix in the GRX and later during the race, he takes out Prince Kabala. After Speed, driving the Mach Six, drives down 'The Big Drop' section of the track, he then drafts Jack and challenges him to a duel. After a long fight across the track, Jack screams in rage and hits the Mach Six from the side and uses the spear hook against Speed despite what he said earlier. When the two reach a section of the track with cameras, Speed notices them and uses his jump jacks to show the spear hook to the cameras, automatically disqualifying Jack. The spear hook then detaches from the Mach Six and the GRX is seen tumbling in the next section of the track which is shaped like a funnel. Jack is last seen screaming while being encased in a Kwik-Save ball which goes through a hole in the center of the funnel. Jack is not seen again and Ben Burns states that using the spear hook cost Jack the hall of fame and his fellow commentator says, "Not to mention what it might do to Royalton Industries." to which Burns remarks, "Shame on them."

Speed Racer: The Videogame
Jack reappears as a playable character in Speed Racer The Videogame where he is voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He is available by default and his ally is Nitro Venderhoss while his rival is Speed Racer.

Trivia
In the game, Jack talks a lot about his boss, despite the fact that we saw Royalton locked up at the end of the film. This could mean that Jack has found work elsewhere. It might also be an oversight by the developers.