- For the character from the original Speed Racer series, see Pops Racer.
Pops Racer is a main character from the Speed Racer film, portrayed by John Goodman.
Background[]
Pops Racer is the grandson of 1920s-era rum runner "Rapid" Ronnie Racer and son of demolition derby driver Pa Racer. As long as he had remembered, Pops had always been around cars. He mentioned that he "scrounged for gaskets and bored out cams". As a young adult, he found a job at Mishida Motors, working his way to the design table. Pops made a name for himself as an automotive engineer, and proved to be brilliant and intuitive in his designs, and had won the title of "Carchitect of the Year" three years running from 1956 to 1958, a feat that no other had repeated.
At an unknown point in time, Pops participated in the Greco-Roman Wrestling federation as a professional wrestler and became the 19th State Champion.
After he left Mishida Motors, he started Racer Motors out of his suburban garage to construct hand-built cars, which became reputed to be a step above the others. The "Mach" series became known as a byword for car customization, starting with the Mach 1.
Pops took the Mach 1 to the Vanderbilt Cup, and placed the car in the hands of driver Digger Jones. However, because of "those darn hairpin turns" at the race course, plus Jones' driving, the Mach 1 suffered mechanical failures, resulting in a DNF. The evolution of Pops' cars got to the point where he could no longer rely on outside drivers to race them, that everything had to be done in-house, both figuratively and literally. He would entrust his first-born son, Rex, to be the one to drive the Racer family's hand-built racing cars at the circuit.
Sometime after Rex won the race at Thunderhead in the Mach 4, he left the team and walked out on the family, with Pops angrily telling him that if he leaves, he is not to come back. These parting words would come to be Pops' greatest regret. After Rex died in the Casa Cristo Classic 5000, Pops attended his funeral alongside his wife and second-born son Speed. He closed down Racer Motors and lived life as a family man in the neighborhood, at one point during which his third-born son, Spritle, was born. He also did what he could to keep Speed from becoming a racing driver for fear that history would repeat itself, not wanting to lose him like he lost Rex. He had also taken a correspondence course in metallurgy while in retirement.
He was initially angered at Speed upon learning that he was driving at Thunderhead, but recognizing his driving ability, he regained his lost passion for motorsports and reopened Racer Motors. One night, Pops was watching an old clip of the '43 Grand Prix with Ben Burns and Stickleton with Speed watching later. Later on the two cheered for Burns and laughed at the two, both of them realizing that racing was in their blood. Pops then built the Mach 6, so that Speed would drive a car that he could trust over any other car from the big corporate sponsors, which he compared to the Devil himself. His distrust for big corporate sponsors, such as Royalton Industries, stem from the fact that they had way too much money and believed they could bend and break the rules in anyway they want.
MORE TO BE ADDED
Trivia[]
- In the film, due to being a former wrestling champion, he is the strongest among his family. He easily defeated a ninja and disarmed two of Cruncher Block's men.
- It is mentioned in Wonderful World of Racing: The Amazing Racer Family that Pops was the one who built Trixie's helicopter, the Sky Shooter, showing that he has some shred of know-how and technical expertise in aeronautics.
Gallery[]
