When Hot Wheels Was "Hot". Highway 35: World Race's 20th Anniversary.
The revival of interest for one of the most successful examples of transmedia storytelling
Imagine being a young child growing up in the mid 2000’s. One day you hear that the brand Hot Wheels is announcing a special project that commemorates the brand’s 35th Anniversary. Suddenly, an avalanche of news drops that will completely change the way your hobby looks to the outside world. Not only will there be a special set of diecast cars for the occasion, but also tie-in comics, a video game, awesome music and most importantly a fully animated movie to come along with it. Now 20 years later, we will look back at one of the most iconic transmedia storylines ever implemented. Hot Wheels: World Race popularity shaped the memories of many childhoods and would have faded into history if not for a dedicated group of fans and content creators who have kept interest in this series of movies as well as involving more newcomers into the hobby of diecast collections.
Highway 35: World Race Synopsis
The main characters of the story involve drivers from all around the world who were personally selected by Dr. Peter Tezla and divided into five teams of seven cars with their drivers. The teams are led by Vert Wheeler (Wave Rippers), Kurt Wylde (Streetbreed), Banjee Castillo (Roadbeasts), Brian Kadeem (Dune Ratz), and Taro Kitano (Schorcers). Majority of the story is centered around newly licensed driver Vert Wheeler. Initially sad that his father Major Jack Wheeler had to deploy and miss the opportunity to see him pass his driving test, he receives the invitation to take part in the World Race when the iconic Hot Wheel car Deora II shows up at his driveway.
Originally the movie was divided into five episodes that aired once a week and also released on VHS and DVD. Sometimes even being bundled with two cars that came along which were part of the diecast set. The episodes aired with the following titles:
Right of Fire
The Greatest Challange
Desert Heat
Frozen Fire1
Wheel of Power
When the movie was put together you get a one hour and fifty long story that cuts out transitional footage that appeared from the TV airings. Each part of the race took place in another dimension with the portals located in the United States, Mexico, Spain and Japan. The realms where the track was located had several different terrains which match the team aesthetics and special abilities that each car had depending on the situation (Volcano, Mountain and Jungle, Desert, Ice/Water, City) with the “Wheel of Power” being at the end of Highway 35.
The cars had a special ability depending on the team they were on:
Wave Ripper cars had jump jets for hovering and quick bursts of height.
Streetbreed cars utilize a “eye in the sky” camera which allowed them to navigate mazes and traffic jams on roads to find the optimal route.
Roadbeasts cars had retractable saw blades that could be used to cut away trees and other obstacles blocking the track.
Dune Ratz cars could transform their tires into spikes in order to get better grip driving over sand.
Scorcher cars were equipped with a titanium plow and shields around their tires which allowed them to resist heat and even drive through lava.
As the race goes on many storylines go one and lessons are learned. Vert develops from a self-centered “team of one” personality to accepting responsibility as team leader. Taro and Vert rescue driver Lani Tam and give up racing for the win to help her. Kadeem has many moments of reflection as he entered the race so that the prize money will go to help his village in Africa. Vert and Banjee lead by example with their teammates often getting the spotlight during the second act of the movie. The rivalry between the Wylde brothers who race on different teams moves the plot in several dramatic ways, etc.
The main antagonist of this movie is a mysterious woman named Gelorum who is the head the CLYP organization. She has an inside man for the race called “Zed 36” who tries to sabotage the other drivers in the race to slow them down. Later when Zed’s identity is exposed by Kadeem, (It is Kurt Wylde which is not hard to figure out) she starts to send in CLYP racing drone to assist him in winning by cheating and sabotaging the track during the final leg of the race. Kurt however turns on the drones when they almost kill his younger brother Markie. After about an hour and thirty minutes of intense racing, Vert ends up the first driver to reach the Wheel of Power and wins the World Race with all of the drivers teleporting back to the first staging area of Highway 35. Him and his team win five million dollars each and as a bonus, all of the drivers get to keep their technologically advanced cars.
The climax of the movie starts when it’s revealed that Highway 35 is rendered inaccessible because the Wheel of Power was removed from Hot Wheel City. Vert, Taro and Lani confront Dr. Tezla over this discovery and protest his usage of the Wheel as a source of unlimited power. When it proves to be too powerful to handle by blowing out the power at the complex and frying Gig’s circuits, Tezla realizes that the Wheel must be returned to it’s original location. Gelorum shows up outside of the complex and threatens to destroy it with all the drivers in it unless they gave over the Wheel. Vert and the other drivers work together to fend off the CLYP racing drones and make it back to Hot Wheel City. Even Kurt comes back to help and redeems himself when it is revealed that Gelorum is a drone herself that lacks any humanity. Vert is successful in returning the Wheel with the villains fleeing.
Vert decides to give his prize money to Kadeem and the drivers say their goodbyes. Vert returns to the complex to find his dad talking with Dr. Tezla there with a newly repaired Gig. While still grounding him for participating in the race while only leaving a note, he was proud of him for his actions and doing the right thing. The movie ends with Vert taking his dad for a spin in his car. But during the final scene, he accidently presses his Nitrox booster fuel which speeds them up to 300 mph and opens the portal with both of them going back into Highway 35.
Despite a middling reception from critics, the series was eventually put together into a movie later that year and the sales for the VHS and DVDs along with the cars were in the millions. Mattel was so impressed with the success of the event that they immediately greenlit the continuation of the story to be told in AcceleRacers.
Highway 35: World Race as an example of Transmedia Story.
Ambitious storylines for brand properties require a clear sense of direction and looks for ways to expand the scope of audience appeal. For Mattel to begin this project, they got in contact with Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment to help create the supplementary material and story for the Highway 35 project. The most famous example of a transmedia franchise is Star Wars. From the original trilogy of movies to the countless books, games, comics and other forms of medium, the entertainment value of the brand is told through countless versions and challenges the creators and writers to always find new and innovates ways for stories to develop without a feeling of stagnation to creep in.
Elton Lin from the Hobby DB website wrote a very interesting article about the effort and payoff Mattel got from all the time and energy put into the brand. In addition to the various parts that go into a transmedia storytelling project, the success of the event lead to the development of the sequel series Acceleracers that unfortunately was cancelled as the story ended on a cliffhanger. The Battle Force 5 show would end up being a spiritual successor based on unused concepts and recycled ideas. Although lukewarm to fans of the former show at first, appreciation has grown in the years since.
Prior to the airing of the Highway 35 movie on TV, most of the hype came from the stories told in other forms. First information came from utilizing the internet with the original bio and character designs being featured at the earliest point of information from this Brazilian Hot Wheels website as far back as 2002. A twelve paged comic storyline came with each car that added up to 35 chapters total. Commercials that advertised the upcoming event were a love letter to the fans and got kids excited for what was to come. Two videogames released to get people immersed into the universe of World Race. One by Climax Brighton Studios and published by THQ and the other being an update to the early 2000’s Planet Hot Wheels that included the cars from the series and tracks based on both the show and the game.2
There was also an incentive to collect all 35 cars by the way of a sweepstake offer. Each package of a car came with a token that could be redeemed for a prize on the Hot Wheels website. If one collected all 35 tokens with each car, you could mail them to Mattel, and they would send you the “World Race Ultimate Track Set" for free.3 Otherwise, one would have buy it for the retail price of $150 to $200. However, due to complications with the distribution of the cars, particularly the last couple waves of the releases, getting a compete set was nearly impossible from brick-and-mortar toy stores. As a result, not that many people were able to participate in the mail-in contest. Mattel ended up bundling the track with special collector sets of the cars and continued to sell it even as AcceleRacers came onto the market.
The biggest attention grabber from the mainstream would have been the news that the punk band Smash Mouth, who’s most famous song to this day is “All Star” from the movie Shrek, had been hired to write a song to go along with the Highway 35 project. Ball of Waxx would compose the hymns of the teams with each song also being in the video game. The playlist for the themes and main song are assembled here.
Starlight Runner worked with Mainframe Entertainment to not only write the characters and environments for the movie, but also came up with the 35 backstories of each individual driver and adapted the looks of each character to the point of improving upon the original designs from the comics. Directors Andrew Duncan and William Lau were brought on with writers Mark Edens and Fabian Nicieza to help assemble the story and bring to life the action and dynamic shots that we all remember. Sound designers Marcel Duperreault, Kirk Furniss, Jason Fredrickson and Todd Araki work on the engine noises and incorporating the music by Brian Carson and the two previously mentioned bands. Their sound design would garner praise and would win them several honors in the 2004 Leo Awards Show.
A small but very talented cast of voice actors from Canada were selected for the show. Only fifteen of the racers have any lines of dialogue with the others either being silent or having background cameos with their cars.
Andrew Francis as Josef "Vert" Wheeler
Brian Drummond as Kurt Wylde / Zed-36 / CLYP Robot
Kevan Ohtsji as Taro Kitano
Will Sanderson as Mark Wylde
Venus Terzo as Lani Tam / Esmeralda Sanchez
Michael Benyaer as Banjee Castillo / GIG
Doron Bell as Alec "Hud" Wood
Kaj Erik Eriksen as Skeet
Cusse Mankuma as Brian Kadeem
Blu Mankuma as Haziz
Kirby Morrow (RIP) as Chuvo
Scott McNeil as Rekkas / Dan Dresden / Griffin / Toño
Kathleen Barr as Gelorum
Michael Donovan as Dr. Peter Tezla
John Payne as Major Jack Wheeler, Jr. / DMV Person
Most of these actors gave good performances and the lines of dialogue are so memorable that fans today will often say many of the catchphrases that have become a staple of the series (“I’m going to pass you/shoot the curl/nobody beats Kurt Wylde” etc.) The DVD releases of the movie also featured two version of an “Interactable Garage" where one could inspect all of the cars and drivers. This kind of engagement with special features like this of home released movies was a very immersive experience that really put an emphasis that this was a very magnificent moment in time that one would not find with many other toy brands.
Starlight Runner was not brought back to do the continuation but did give input on concepts and ideas that went unused in their original vision. Highway 35 would continue to set an example of a successful transmedia implementation long after the event had concluded. For many years, the movie would still be available to watch on YouTube and other smaller video sharing websites while garnering a cult following since the occasion got many new kids and even adults into the hobby of collecting Hot Wheel cars.
The circumstances that allowed such an event to occur were perfect. World Race was released at a time where many other shows based of car racing with toys to go with them were in vogue. Series like Nascar Racers (2000), reruns of Classic Speed Racer cartoon from the 1960’s, the haydays of peak NASCAR viewership, and movies like Pixar’s Cars (2006) and the live action Speed Racer film (2008) were the finale to this era as the downturn from the 2007-2009 Recession had killed many cultural trends related to cars.
Once fallen into obscurity, over time this movie and it’s follow up series would see a revival of interest in the mid to late 2010’s. One of the first initiatives I had in content creation and essay writing before coming to Substack was discovering a small but dedicated group of fans ready to put the early Hot Wheels movies back on the map.
The Revival of Interest in World Race
Starting around 2017 to 2018, interest in both World Race and AcceleRacers started to come back into focus since the main storyline was left unfinished. This was a time as many cartoons and animated shows from the past that were also unresolved or cancelled in their prime saw their lifelines extended by way of a proper continuation or reboot. There were hopes that AcceleRacers would finally be picked up for a similar reason, but they were dashed when it was clear that Mattel had no interest in going back to complete the story. Not being deterred, a small but increasingly active group of content creators started to bring the Hot Wheels shows into internet discourse again.
Where do I fit into the narrative? Around late 2017, I had finally completed the Highway 35 diecast collection. I joined the discord server where people from all kinds of backgrounds came to discuss the movies and other related topics. Then one day a YouTuber by the name of “NoloAF” shared this video noting many of the interesting parallels and references in the movies that became more apparent on rewatches on the AcceleRacers subreddit. I decided to reach out to him when he asked for feedback and more references. Together through many chats and messaging, we found a lot of interesting material to work with:
More parallels and ironies involving the main characters. Paying attention to the details of the movies rewarded those who noted the similarities and shout outs.
The iconic catchphrase of driver Taro Kitano “I’m going to pass you” usually being a sign that something is about to happen in the story. Most of the time to his determent.
A Valentines’ Day special involving two of the side characters from World Race, Esmerelda Sanchez of the Roadbeasts and Krakatoa of the Scorchers, possibly having a romantic story together that was planned but mostly kept in the background.
The most popular video discussing the possibility that three of the drivers from the World Race who went missing in the racing realms, Banjee Castillo, Dan Dresden and Alec Wood, had actually been part of the mysterious Silencerz team in AcceleRacers.
These videos were a hit with the community and more content creators started to take note and relive their memories. The racing cars and tracks from the movies started to be recreated in games like Trackmania, Distance, Roblox and custom liveries showing off the teams started appearing in other racing games.
But the real turning point which lead to the explosion in popularity was five years ago. That is when Jeff Gomez, the creator of the World Race story and universe, decided to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the subreddit. You can read it here or watch the video below for a summary:
Jeff answered questions many fans had as well as reveal new information about the behind the scenes work that went into this movie.
Shockingly, we learned of the short time frame for the movie to be made. The project wasn’t green lit until June 2002, but Mattel wanted to get the first episode out on store shelves by October. This caused Jeff and the companies to work in crunch time for sixteen hours a week in order to get everything done on time. It explains many of the animation goofs and errors that appeared in the movie. This also affected the DVD release windows since there was also a deal to air the episodes on Cartoon Network which interfered with the release of the full movie compared to the segmented episodic DVDs released with bundles.
Next was going over cut content. Starlight Runner’s Highway 35 Story Bible contained many elements and plot points that were included in the bios of the drivers in the interactive garage. There were plans to include more terrains like a full ocean leg, racing in environments like villages and in the sky that were included in the video game. Many of these ideas were never implemented due to the time constraints and budget not being high enough to animate the scenes. The comic storyline was closer to Jeff’s vision since many set pieces that did not make the film were also included there. Mattel felt that the targeted audience of kids would have a hard time understanding a complicated story. Instead, most of the mature storytelling was saved for the sequel.
The biggest revelations were Jeff answering questions regarding the story and what did not make it in:
Mark Wylde’s introduction to the story was supposed to include a scene where he emerged out of the trunk of one of the cars. This was how he originally got to the second staging area. This scene would have been a homage to the original Speed Racer show’s famous running gag involving Speed’s cousin Spritle and his pet monkey stowing away on the Mach 5.
Motivations for why Kurt chose to spy for Gelorum were going to be explored. Based on his comic bio, it is likely it would have been related to seeking some kind of reinstatement for his Grand Prix league he was kicked out of for cheating.
How Vert was selected to drive the Deora II was also written in the initial drafting of the script. The car was originally intended to be driven by his father, but Tezla decided to switch the designation to Vert once he saw his faster reflexes and talent that far surpassed his father.
Some of the side characters that have gained popularity over the years were supposed to be more prevalent in the main story and had plotlines that were cut. Dan Dresden appears in a deleted scene from the full film release (but kept in the DVD release of episode four and the Spanish version of the movie) where he introduced himself as new leader of his team. Esmerelda Sanchez was supposed to have a character arc that went untold and was mostly kept in the background.4 It is likely the other unvoiced drivers who had stories in the comics would have gotten lines of dialogue if not for the short time constraints.
While it was fairly common knowledge that World Race’s ending was changed to make way for a sequel, Jeff’s original idea for the ending was to explain everything going on with the Accelerons, the SCRIM and CLYP organizations and the competing factions who wanted the Wheel of Power. Some of these ideas were implemented in the later episodes of AcceleRacers.
The race was intended to take place in the real world as much as it did in the alternate dimensions where the tracks were located. This was shown more in the comic. “Highway 35” was also selected as the project title not just because of the 35th Anniversary of Hot Wheels, but because the real Interstate 35 runs in the middle of the United States and connects all major roads that run east to west, the cut ideas involving the ocean leg is still present in the comics and video game.
Jeff was initially not a big fan of AcceleRacers because of all the deviations from his original creation and his idea of a sequel series would been the drivers trying to combat the rouge faction of Accelerons who’s driving capabilities and insane speeds were having a negative effect on planet Earth. It is likely that side characters that fans wanted to see more off from World Race (Dan Dresden, Esmerelda Sanchez, Harrison Lau, Ricky Bell, Jet Blaney, Krakatoa, Chuvo and Rekkas etc.) would have gotten their time in the spotlight.
The team leaders were based off of people Jeff meet in his youth as well as various aspects of his personality. Amusingly, he gave the main antagonist the name “Gelorum” from a surname of a girl he had a crush on in high school. She was not impressed when she later found out about it.
According to the show notes, Jack “Rabbit” Wheeler was the grandfather of Vert (which would make his father Jack Wheeler Jr.) and there was supposed to be a connection to the original Hot Wheels cartoon by their names.
In the original story bible for Highway 35, Tezla had a retrieval system to help out a driver and their car if they got lost or had problems returning back to one of his Headquarters. This would explain how Lani’s car made it to the second leg after being swept away by the lava as well as how drivers Toño and Esmerelda returned in the end after both of them experienced car problems caused by the CLYP cars in the final leg of the race (he also confirmed their cars were sabotaged by them off-screen. Toño’s Nitrox fuel was drained by the drones and Esmerelda’s car possibly had the brakes tampered with, so she was unable avoid skidding into the spike trap that blew her back left tire.) The E.D.R device in AcceleRacers (Emergency Driver Return) possibly came from this.
If there was ever going to be a remake or remaster of World Race or some kind of return to the universe that he created, Jeff would be more than happy to work on a series again. He was so proud to see that so many people really cared about the Hot Wheel movies from this day forward.
Knowing that Jeff watched the videos that me and several others had worked on was the highlight of the AMA. He even confirmed some of the theories people had (Banjee being a Silencerz driver in AcceleRacers , the SCRIM corporation being a shell company for them, Esmerelda and Krakatoa possibly having a relationship etc.) From this point forward the community grew exponentially.
The Road Ahead
Although I had once gone down a different route in recent times, returning to this scene I have found a vibrant community that has given countless hours of entertainment and content to sustain interest in the 2000’s era shows. With the upcoming release of the game Hot Wheels Unleashed II keeping all of the cars in addition to the ones featured in the movies, it is possible that we will get more fan service.
There have been bumps in the road. Starting in 2022, the full versions of the movies that were on YouTube for over a decade were suddenly copyright claimed by Mattel and many channels that featured footage of the movies were in peril of being deleted. Thus, it became difficult to find a place to watch them without buying the DVDs of secondhand stores or online. Fortunately, one can find them here. Two of the best versions of the movie that I have seen are the Highway 35 but it's Inital D and the 4K remaster of the original movie.
Before I end this essay, I want to extend my thanks to those in the community who have created amazing content and interviews. I would go check them all out:
Tezla's Cube for the reviews of track sets and older videos covering the series.
JayCeeSquared for his Vert Wheeler cosplays, amazing output of merchandise and follow up interviews with Jeff Gomez and members of the community.
ThebiggmannnN for his hilarious videos of the racing games involving Hot Wheels.
NOLOAF: Acceleracers who started it all with the theories and easter egg videos.
AcceleReece who’s one of the creators on the Tezla’s Cube channel.
ValkenVugen for the many projects he worked on including the current fan made “Fog Realm” prequel.
Chinnymisc for continuing the videoessays on the series for a new audience.
RipsawChelsea for his amazing audio remakes.
ZstormVR who had done VR races of the tracks and meets up with other members of the community.
And finally, thank you Jeff Gomez, the people and Mainframe and Starlight Entertainment who made all of this possible. The passion you showed for Highway 35 will live on in all of our hearts and minds. Until then, see you next time!
Wisdom is a circle; what you receive, you must give back. - Dr. Peter Tezla
For the DVD releases, episode four is titled “Wheel of Power” and combines the final two episodes into one 40-minute series finale.
Despite the update, the MMO would shut down in 2004.
There is a misconception that there was only 1,000 of this track set were made. The only limited-edition item was a “Zed-36” special diecast Hot Wheel that was included within the car and track bundle. Mattel had a backlog of the Ultimate Track Set and were still moving units of the set as far as 2006.
It is likely that her story involved something similar to her comic. In which she challenged Banjee to a race to see who would be the better leader for the Roadbeasts. Coincidentally, this was a plotline in the third AcceleRacers movie “Breaking Point” when Mark Wylde raced Tork Maddox for leadership of the Metal Maniacs.
Powerful.