In case I am grossly in error, let me say I think this was the first cartoon we learned of on the then-new ABC network, as we were visiting someone else.Up to that time, I seem to recall the CBS lineup of Smokey the Bear, Casper, tom and Jerry, among others, or Hot Wheels was on this network anyway. (Well, old comic book ads do have Hot Wheels on the same network with Casper and Smokey the Bear). Either way, the pounding theme repeating "Hot Wheels! Hot Wheels!" as tho it was composed lyrics sticks in a four-yr-old head.Because of this distinction, I eventually sought the show on Ebay and came across three episodes, and about three of the Skyhawks show as well, which I have no recollection of.Definitely enjoyed Hot Wheels, even tho about only one episode is in color (well, hey, we had a black and white back then anyway. Actually, when it aired, we did have that big color TV) It was a basic setup. The heroic Jack Wheeler, his father who owned or managed the Hot Wheels group, mini-skirted chickie, a tomboy, and another preppie white kid.The strangest one, at this time when blacks were entering TV programs as mere tokens, here we have an Arabian black youth, with a small turban on his head.and then we have the sinister Dexter, rich kid voiced superbly by Casey Kasem. Dexter has his gang of sidekicks, a long-haired motorcycle bunch.they all go to the hamburger hangout, Mothers, who I actually recall this woman. She was pleased to see the Hot Wheels kids, not so happy when Dexter showed up.Animation not on par with Scooby Doo or Jonny Quest or Space Ghost, I find the show strangely enticing and enjoyable in all its simplicity.Would love to see more of them sometime. and I didn't buy a single Hot Wheels car.well, not like I didn't see them thanks to my brothers and the kids in the neighborhood.The tape also has commercials on the first episode, cereal ads and a Shasta commercial narrated by Tom Bosley.There is also an ad for Henry Fonda in a failed TV show, The Smith Family.

A some of the other posters have mentioned, this and "Skyhawks" were probably the earliest examples of cartoon series that had a toy tie in. Of course, this was several years before shows like "Transformers", "He Man" and "GI Joe" would hit the airwaves and would make weekday afternoons into a virtual infomercial for various toys. However, this show was one of the first and probably one of the best. I still fondly remember it and I would look forward to watching it on Saturday morning. At least they had some cool animation to make you keep watching even if you didn't want the toys. Of course, I did get plenty of Hot Wheels cars as well as the tracks, but this cartoon really didn't have an impact on my decision. Besides, I was only three years old at the time.This definitely is a lost classic.

This was just one of the cartoons I would watch religiously as a kid. It never even occurred to me that it was a 30 minute commercial for the miniature cars. It and it's sister program "Skyhawks" had catchy '70's era theme songs which had my friends and me playing with our Hot Wheels cars and toy airplanes and singing the songs every time we let the cars roll down the track. The Hot Wheels show was almost the American version of Speed Racer and traced the exploits of the Hot Wheels race club from one race to the next. Looking back, I wonder how it held my attention for more than the first episode. But even after 30 years, I can still hear the theme song in my head... "Hot Wheels! Hot Wheels! Always racin', always chasin'... Keep a turnin' Hot Wheels! Please someone get it out of my head!!

This may the among the first of a dubious trend - a 30-minute toy commercial masquerading as a Saturday morning cartoon. Hot Wheels was a wildly popular toy car line, spawning several imitators (like Johnny Lightning). As a product, it was quite enjoyable, and a high-quality product that now is among the mega-collectible boomer toys. And yes, my mom in fact DID throw out my "wheel" carrying case with all my cars in it! But I digressHard to say how the cartoon came about. Did someone say, "hey, my kids love Hot Wheels cars, let's make a cartoon vaguely related to Hot Wheels and cash in", or alternatively, "hey, I had this great idea - why not make a cartoon about our toy, and maybe we can sneak it into the Saturday morning line up, advertise our toy, and also get paid for doing it!"The cartoon itself was the typical, generic, limited animation that looked like it cost about $150 an episode to produce. The plot was nominally about a race car club competing in some unspecified series, with some rival "bad guy" car club as a frequent antagonist. Rule #1 about cartoons - if it's about a race, it's gonna stink! This cartoon did not prove to be the exception, it stunk out loud. Nonetheless, it worked pretty well and it was relatively popular for a while. Whether it ever sold any more Hot Wheels cars is unclear.I vaguely recall an airplane-related sister series, but it's been too many years.