“That car’s equipped with anything anybody could imagine,” said Inspector Detector with a sigh.
“Oh,” Sparky said. His face fell when he realized that a car like this would be very hard to beat. Even for the Mach 5.
As Inspector Detector and the racing officials walked away to inspect another car, Sparky snuck a peek at the underside of the Mammoth Car. Curious, he crawled underneath the Mammoth Car and began poking around.
When he crawled out, he was met by the car’s lead driver. The driver stood there menacingly, a large wrench held tightly in his fist.
“Spying on us, are you?” he growled.
“I was just trying to find out if your car was equipped with any special inventions I didn’t know about,” Sparky said. “I just like to know—”
“You want to know all about the Mammoth Car, eh?” the driver snapped. “Okay. I’ll be glad to show you around. But let’s take a little detour first. Come on.” He grabbed Sparky by the collar and dragged him across the track.
“Aaaah! Help!” Sparky shouted.
But with the noise of the crowd and the roar of so many engines, no one heard him.
The Mammoth Car’s driver dragged Sparky to an empty storage area where no one in the stadium could see them. He shoved Sparky inside and punched him in the face, knocking him flat on his back. Then the driver stepped outside, made sure the door was locked, and closed it with a sinister laugh. Sparky was trapped inside.
2
NO LIMIT
All the car inspections were over, and the five-hundred-mile No-Limit World Race was about to begin.
Pops, Spritle, and Chim Chim gathered around the Mach 5. Speed and Trixie were in the car. But someone was missing.
“Where’s Sparky?” Speed asked. “He’s not still mad about Trixie being my assistant, is he?”
“No, not at all,” Pops said. “But I don’t see him around anywhere.” He put a hand over his eyes and scanned the stadium. Sparky was nowhere to be seen.
“He might be up to mischief! ” Spritle shrieked. “I know I would be if I were him, right?”
“Right, Spritle. But you’re not Sparky,” Trixie said.
“The race is about to begin. Start your engines!” the announcer called out over the stadium’s loudspeaker.
Wherever Sparky was, they’d have to find out later.
“Here goes,” Speed said. He lowered his racing visor and started the engine.
Looking across the track, Trixie noticed someone watching them.
“Who’s that?” Trixie asked.
“Huh?” Speed said. He was unable to make out who was watching them through the thick cloud of engine exhaust and the crowd of spectators.
Had he been able to see, he would have realized that the person watching them was the famous masked driver, Racer X. Unknown to Speed, Racer X was actually his older brother, Rex. Racer X kept an eye out for Speed. He was always around to protect him, even if Speed didn’t know it.
“Ready ...” the announcer began. Engines revved. “Set ...” the announcer continued. “Go! ” Tires squealed.
The race had begun! The sound of a great many engines roared through the stadium.
Right away, the enormous Mammoth Car took the lead. But soon enough, much to the crowd’s delight, Speed raced the Mach 5 right past it to take the top position. Pops, Spritle, and Chim Chim cheered for Speed as the Mach 5 zipped over the racetrack in a flash of bright white.
In the stands, a mean-looking man in a gleaming white suit grinned to himself. His eyes were on one car and one car only: the Mammoth Car. His Mammoth Car.
After a quick lap around the track, the drivers exited the stadium and headed onto the main highway.
Sparky lay semiconscious on the floor of the storage room.
“Come on, Sparky, get up,” a voice said.
Sparky slowly opened his eyes. He rubbed his head. Standing over him was none other than Racer X.
“You ... look ... familiar,” Sparky mumbled. One of his eyes was swelling up. He was sure to get a black eye.
“Tell me what happened,” Racer X said. He helped Sparky to his feet.
“I was looking at the Mammoth Car when the driver grabbed me, dragged me in here, and knocked me out,” Sparky explained.
“The Mammoth Car’s driver, huh?” Racer X said. He suddenly seemed very concerned.
3
TRAIN WRECK
Back in the race, the drivers had gone a good distance past the city and were now moving through the less-populated, mountainous area of the race. Suddenly, the Mammoth Car was being driven more aggressively. With no racing officials nearby to see, the Mammoth Car’s driver threw out the rule book. He began running the other cars off the road.
One by one, the Mammoth Car rammed into and knocked out every other car on the road. The cars were hurtled into rock walls, run off cliffs, or forced to lose tires and spin out. In minutes, only the Mammoth Car and the Mach 5 were left in the race.
Speed stepped down hard on the Mach 5’s accelerator to pull farther into the lead and, more importantly, to create some distance between it and the dangerous Mammoth Car. He took the Mach 5 to top speed.
But no matter how fast Speed was driving, it was still no match for the massive amount of horsepower in the Mammoth Car.
In the blink of an eye, the Mammoth Car closed the distance between it and the Mach 5.
Trixie screamed. The Mammoth Car was behind the Mach 5. It was about to ram right into them!
Realizing that he couldn’t outpace the Mammoth Car, Speed pressed the B button on the Mach 5’s steering-wheel control panel. Pops had designed the Mach 5 with special features that made it much more than an ordinary race car. The B button engaged the grip tires, giving the Mach 5 extra traction on even the most difficult terrain.
Just as the Mammoth Car was about to slam into the Mach 5, Speed turned the steering wheel hard. He veered off the highway and up onto the side of the mountain. The belt tires clung to the rocky mountainside, allowing him to drive out of harm’s way.
The Mammoth Car barreled forward, taking the lead on the road below.
Having safely avoided the collision, Speed maneuvered the Mach 5 back onto the road. He kept close behind the Mammoth Car, his eyes on it at all times.
A short distance ahead, a red signal was flashing at the railroad crossing. A freight train was approaching on the tracks. They would have to stop the race and let it go by.
The Mammoth Car ignored the signal and sped right across the railroad tracks.
The freight train tooted its whistle, but it was too late. The Mammoth Car was far too long to cross the tracks in one quick shot. The engineer hit the brake, but the massively long Mammoth Car was still in the way. The train couldn’t stop quickly enough. It smashed headfirst into the last section of the Mammoth Car. There was a loud crash as the train broke into pieces from the impact and flew off the track, completely demolished from the collision.
The Mammoth Car, shockingly, was barely damaged. Still, it slowed to a stop.
Speed had stopped the Mach 5 beside the tracks. He and Trixie had their hands over their mouths in shock.
As the dust settled, they saw the train crew climbing out of the wreckage.
“Come on,” Speed said. “Let’s go see if anyone’s been hurt.”
While Speed and Trixie helped the train’s crew, the Mammoth Car’s mechanics quickly dealt with the minor scratches from the accident. The Mammoth Car had barely anything to fix. All the team of mechanics had to do was repaint the exterior in a few spots.
After spraying the scratched areas with a thin coat of red paint, the mechanics filed back inside the Mammoth Car. They didn’t even glance at the wrecked train to see if they could help. The Mammoth Car’s engine started up with a booming growl and a burst of dark smoke. Then the massive vehicle pulled away and returned to the race.
“The Mammoth Car’s leaving! Let’s go!” Speed cried.
Speed and Trixie checked on
e last time to make sure that the train’s crew was okay, and then they jumped into the Mach 5 and took off after the Mammoth Car.
4
THE MAMMOTH’S SECRET
Back on the highway, Speed followed the Mammoth Car at a safe distance.
“That’s very weird,” Speed said. “The Mammoth Car was hardly scratched in the crash, so why did the mechanics rush out to repair it like that? Trixie, I’ll bet there’s some kind of mysterious secret to the whole thing.”
“A secret?” Trixie said. “I wonder what it could be.”
“Let’s use the homing robot to find out,” Speed suggested.
Trixie nodded. “We can attach a camera to the homing robot and then send it over to the Mammoth Car without them knowing! I’ll set the camera to take X-ray photographs. That way, we’ll be able to see straight through the Mammoth Car’s metal exterior to what’s inside! ”
“There has to be some kind of secret cargo inside, something Inspector Detector missed,” Speed said. “Why else would they need a car that big?”
Trixie opened a compartment on the dashboard and removed a miniscule high-tech camera. She made a quick adjustment to the camera, setting it to take X-ray images. Then she secured the camera to the Mach 5’s homing robot.
“The homing robot’s all ready for flight, Speed. If anything can tell us what the Mammoth Car is carrying, this sure will,” Trixie said.
Using the homing robot’s remote control, Speed launched the camera-equipped device into the air. At first the homing robot flew beside the Mammoth Car, its X-ray camera trained on the walls of each of its long segments. But then one of the members of the Mammoth Car’s driving crew happened to glance out the window and saw it hovering there. The homing robot was designed to look like a pigeon. But what kind of pigeon could fly that fast?
Suspicious, the crew member looked out the window.
That was no living pigeon—it was a tiny robot designed to look like a pigeon!
The crew member knocked the robot in the head, swatting it away from the Mammoth Car. The homing robot started to wobble, losing momentum. The Mammoth Car took off, leaving the homing robot in its dust.
From behind them on the road, Speed and Trixie saw that something had happened to the homing robot. “Signal the robot back!” Trixie cried.
Speed hit the return button, and the homing robot crookedly flew back to the Mach 5. Speed kept driving, staying on the Mammoth Car’s tail. The homing robot landed with a thump in Trixie’s hands.
“Oh no,” she said. “Somebody hit it.” The crew member had smashed the camera. Whatever X-ray pictures it had taken were lost forever.
On the road ahead, the Mammoth Car held its lead. While staying on course, it sent a radio signal to a mansion hidden away in the hills.
This was the luxurious secret headquarters of the Mammoth Car’s owner: the notorious Cruncher Block.
Cruncher Block was a thick, loud man well used to getting his way. He was one of the richest men in the world, and he wanted to get even richer. He lounged out in the sunshine, wearing a spiffy white suit, waiting for word from the Mammoth Car. When the radio signal came through, he bolted up in his lounge chair.
The Mammoth Car’s driver reported the news.
“Speed Racer sent a flying robot camera to spy on us?!” Cruncher Block bellowed. “We’d better get rid of them. Now, you listen to me. You’ve gotta stay in the race, no matter what that kid throws at you.”
“Yes, sir,” the driver said.
Cruncher Block kept bellowing. “The only way to get the fifty million bucks in gold bars outta the country is if you stay in this race. That way, you’ll get over the border with no trouble. You hear me?”
Cruncher Block disconnected the radio without waiting for an answer. Then he spit on the ground and looked up into the bright sun. He knew his Mammoth Car would get his loot out of the country. It had to. It was the only way.
5
STUCK!
The Mammoth Car kept driving in the long No-Limit World Race. The sun was setting in the sky, but the race was still going. They forged ahead, crossing mountains and rivers, getting closer to the country’s border with every passing mile.
But at the Mammoth Car’s back was always the white race car: the Mach 5.
In the Mach 5, Trixie glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that there were no other cars on the road behind them. No headlights could be seen in the distance.
“I don’t see any other cars, Speed,” she said.
“Now the race is just between us and the Mammoth Car,” Speed said, wiping some sweat from his brow.
Trixie nodded.
“But I still think there’s something not right with the Mammoth Car,” Speed said. “Why else would they have knocked the homing robot out like that? They must be carrying the gold.”
“I think you’re right, Speed,” Trixie said. “But how can we be sure?”
“I’m going up there,” Speed said.
He shifted gears, and the Mach 5 burst ahead on the road. He switched lanes so the Mach 5 was driving beside the Mammoth Car, keeping pace with the enormous vehicle. He drove past the tail segment and past several others. The Mammoth Car was as long as a train, with dozens of tires that were twice the height of the Mach 5.
As Speed drove beside the Mammoth Car, Trixie looked out the side window, studying the huge spinning tires. She had to crane her neck to see up any higher than that.
Seeing the Mach 5’s daring approach, the Mammoth Car let out a blast of dark smoke from exhaust pipes near the tire axles. The smoke blinded Speed for a moment, but it was a moment long enough for the Mammoth Car to force the Mach 5 in the wrong direction. Just as they were approaching a swift turn on a mountainside, the Mammoth Car gave the Mach 5 a shove. The Mach 5 spun out of control, hitting the guardrail and careening off the road.
The Mach 5 fell a few feet, landing on an outcropping of rocks. The Mammoth Car kept going as if nothing had happened.
Trixie gasped.
“Hang on!” Speed yelled. He pushed a button on the Mach 5’s steering column to activate the belt tires. But the belt tires spun and spun in the loose gravel and rock, unable to get enough traction to take off.
“Speed, look! ” Trixie yelled.
It wasn’t enough that the Mach 5 was stuck on the side of the road-not for the Mammoth Car. They had to make sure that Speed Racer was out of this race for good.
One of the Mammoth Car’s many compartments came open, and a ramp slid down to the surface of the road. Motorcycles started pouring out.
There were too many motorcycles, speeding too quickly, for Speed or Trixie to count. They had bright headlights on in the dark. That’s all that Speed and Trixie could see from their spot in the rocks: a great many bright lights heading straight at them.
Speed kept gunning the engine, trying to give the belt tires enough traction to take off and get the Mach 5 back on the road.
Would the belt tires take hold? Would the motorcycles get to him first?
There was no time to think. Speed had no idea what to do.
But someone did.
Suddenly, Speed spied a yellow streak on the road.
“Another car!” he cried.
It was Racer X, appearing on the road in his trademark yellow race car. He must have been monitoring the race from the shadows.
Racer X sprayed oil all over the road, which was not visible in the nighttime, and the motorcyclists drove straight onto it without realizing. They spun out of control. One motorcycle hit a patch of the oil and keeled over. Another hit the oil slick and slammed straight into a rock wall. Another driver flew off his motorcycle completely and did a wild flying leap into another driver, knocking him off his motorcycle, too.
Thanks to Racer X, all of the motorcycles were out of commission.
Just in time, too, because that’s when the Mach 5’s belt tires finally got a good grip in the gravel and took off. Speed was back in the race. The Mammoth Car had gotten
a good lead, but Speed knew he could catch it.
“Thanks to Racer X, we can go on now,” Trixie said. “Go!”
Speed narrowed his eyes on the road ahead. The Mach 5 was back on the road, back in the race, and back in pursuit of the Mammoth Car.
6
STOWAWAYS
Far away from the last two cars in the No-Limit World Race, Pops Racer was driving his own car on another road. The top was down, and he was speeding through the night with a look of serious determination. Sitting in the passenger seat was the Mach 5’s dedicated mechanic, Sparky. He still looked dazed from his confrontation with the Mammoth Car’s driver. He’d just told Pops everything he knew about the Mammoth Car. He was sure that something fishy was going on.
“I see,” Pops said, keeping his foot steady on the gas as they whipped down the road. “So the driver of the Mammoth Car slugged you, huh? It’s clear they’ll stop at nothing to win this race. There’s no way we’ll catch up to Speed now. So we’ve got to take a plane to where they are and try to help them.”
“Is that where you’re taking us, Pops?” Sparky said. He was still not feeling 100 percent. His eye had swollen up to a good shiner.
“That’s right, Sparky,” Pops said into the wind. “We’re going to the airport.”
By the time Pops and Sparky reached the closest airport, they were the last customers at the airline counter. Through the window, in the dark night sky, they could see a plane taking off on the runway.
“What do you mean that was the last plane leaving for the north tonight?” Pops cried to the airline employee. “I don’t believe it! We’ve got to fly there.”
The airline attendant smiled blandly, not caring that Pops had missed the plane.
“Well,” the airline attendant said, “unless you can sprout wings and fly north yourself, you’ll just have to wait. The next plane leaves at seven tomorrow morning.”
The Race Against the Mammoth Car Page 2
