ROOKY RACERS

Comic
Speech Bubbles
Drawn by Alan Rogers

42 appearances (over 84 pages) from issue no. 62 (23/03/74) to no. 103 (04/01/75).
All were printed in red/black.

Although the race is advertised for ‘tomorrow’ (ie the next day) Dan says to Oyle in the last frame (after winning this first encounter) ‘See you in the race next week, Oyle!’.

The race is in stages – a separate race taking place every week (apart from issue no. 90 where there is no race at all as Druff’s machine had broken down). In all bar three Druff and Oyl use a motorised contraption, a different for one each race. The exceptions are issues nos. 96 (yacht race), 98 (pedal cars), and 102 (dog sleds).

Early in the race Herr Dastardly, sorry Oyle, cheats to get in front, but Druff overtakes to win and Oyle comes a cropper – every week!! Okay, virtually every week. In issue nos. 88 and 103 (the last story) Oyl does win, but in the former it’s because he’s being chased by a ‘giant water beastie ‘ and in the latter Druff simultaneously wins £10,000 by beating Evel Knelbow’s leap over a canyon. Issue no. 99 sees a dead heat and in issue no. 102 (the 1974 Christmas edition) Father Christmas beats them both.

Not to be confused with … Wacky Races

Maybe not The Eagle or TV21, but great comic art nonetheless :-