Penelope Pitstop

"Oh, my stars and garters!"

- Penelope Pitstop from Wacky Races (2017)

Penelope Pitstop is one of Hanna-Barbera's most popular animated heroines.

Overview
Penelope Pitstop was the only female driver on Wacky Races. She drove car #5: the Compact Pussycat, which was essentially a beauty salon on wheels. Iwao Takamoto said in an interview that he and Jerry Eisenberg created her as an afterthought, as Joseph Barbera had suggested that a woman be included in the Wacky Races cast.

Character

 * She is the only female racer in the Wacky Races lineup, (Not that she minds), driving a pink feminine car with personal grooming facilities that would sometimes backfire on other racers, such as shampoo foam hitting their faces known as the Compact Pussycat. Pretty Penelope always has time to relax and worry about her looks, because her car is like a beauty parlor. Penelope Pitstop also has a habit of holding her arm out in the breeze to dry newly applied nail polish, which the others mistake for a turn signal (this habit once sent the Roaring Plenty into a cactus).
 * Peter Perfect (and pretty much all the other drivers) had a crush on her, a feeling that was returned, and always tried to help her; in one episode, they almost end up married. Unlike other cars, the Compact Pussycat rarely was targeted by the other racers (except Dick Dastardly of course), as it seems they also liked and tried to help her as Peter did. Penny was always thankful for their assistance and was perhaps the most racer on the track, though she twice gave the Creepy Coupe's dragon and serpent a good bashing with her umbrella.
 * Penelope also had her own cartoon series, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, which also featured her rescuers the Ant Hill Mob. Her sworn enemy is the Hooded Claw, (who is unknown to her, her own guardian, Sylvester Sneekly). She wore a slight alteration to her Races wardrobe, as is cocmparable with the opposite pictures. In the new 2017 version, she eventually shows martial arts skills.

Appearance

 * In Wacky Races, Penelope has long blond hair in a full fringe. She wears a purple racer helmet with goggles. She also wears a dark pink rider jacket with a purple turtleneck and purple gloves, pink skirt with red pants underneath and white boots.
 * In The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Penelope's eyes resemble those of Daphne Blake, but with white sclerae, and she wears red lipstick. Her helmet is replaced by a magenta pilot helmet with matching blue and white goggles. She now wears a hot pink long-sleeved jacket with a matching belt and long magenta scarf, which is hanging loose on the right side. She still wears her red pants and white boots from the Wacky Races, and her gloves are now white.
 * In "Cross Country Double Cross", Penelope's blond hair is loose as she uses her helmet to block the hose which the Hooded Claw used to flood the train car.

Personality

 * Penelope is a beautiful, sexy, sweet natured, attractive and bubbly southern belle. Although she is blind to the fact her guardian is her arch nemesis in disguise, she is very smart and often manages to get herself out of trouble before her true guardians the Ant Hill Mob can get to her in time.
 * She wears a purple helmet with white goggles, a purple scarf, a pink-purple jacket, white gloves, red pants, and white go-go boots.

Portrayals

 * Penelope Pitstop was originally voiced by Janet Waldo, and by Kath Soucie in all her appearances in TV shows and video games, and now by Nicole Parker in the 2017 Wacky Races series.

Overview

 * Penelope Pitstop was the only female driver on Wacky Races. She drove car #5: the Compact Pussycat, which was essentially a beauty salon on wheels. Iwao Takamoto said in an interview that he and Jerry Eisenberg created her as an afterthought, as Joseph Barbera had suggested that a woman be included in the Wacky Races cast.
 * Aside from Dick Dastardly, the male racers are very chivalrous toward her, and rarely attack her car, sometimes even allowing her to pass them. The Turbo Terrific driver, Peter Perfect, is particularly fond of her, frequently calling her "Pretty Penny".
 * In her own series, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, she had become a jet-setting heiress in 1912. The Ant Hill Mob had become Penelope's bodyguards, protecting her from the Hooded Claw and his twin henchmen, The Bully Brothers.
 * Janet Waldo performed Penelope's voice in both series. Penelope later had guest roles in the Yogi's Treasure Hunt episodes "Snow White and the Seven Treasure Hunters" and "Goodbye, Mr. Chump". She was radically redesigned for Penelope Pitstop GT, a Cartoon Network Web Premiere Toon.

Penelope Pitstop in popular culture

 * Penelope appeared with a few other Wacky Races characters in MetLife's television commercial during Super Bowl XLIII in 2012.
 * A range of Penelope Pitstop graphic shirts have been released in Singapore under Zara Kids.
 * Penelope is mentioned in the lyrics of a few popular songs, including "How Could She?" by Type O Negative, "The Influence" by Jurassic 5 and "Niggaz Never Learn" by Big Daddy Kane.
 * On page 2 of the webcomic story "Dasien Meets Pulsar Pureheart", the villain Goldie says when stopped by Pulsar Pureheart, "Now, beat it, Penelope Pitstop! I don't have time for the a [sic] junior league superhero!"

Casting history

 * Janet Waldo: Wacky Races, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
 * Marilyn Schreffler: Yogi's Treasure Hunt episode "Snow White and the Seven Treasure Hunters"
 * Kath Soucie: Wacky Races Forever
 * Kayra Nicole Arias: Penelope Pitstop GT
 * Nicole Parker: Wacky Races 2017

Trivia

 * Penelope's car, the Compact Pussycat is never named during the opening titles, making it the only car to do so along with the Crimson Haybaler.
 * In addition, the Compace Pussycat never appeared in the Perils of Penelope Pitstop, it was replacing by a green limousine like vehicle.
 * The Hooded Claw does change between his true identity twice in frout of Penelope. The first time wasn't as obvious as he was bending down behind a desk, the second time she refuses to believe the truth and finds in an insult to her guardian.
 * In the 2017 Wacky Races series, she has a twin sister named Pandora.


 * Penelope holds the distinction of being the winner of the last Wacky Race from the classic series, The Carlsbad or Bust Bash.