Plot

Young driver, Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile.

Speed Racer is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country car-racing rally that claimed the life of his older brother, Rex Racer. Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops and Mom. Pops designed Speed's car, the Mach 5. The owner of Royalton Industries makes Speed a lucrative offer; Speed rejects it, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing races and cheating to gain profit. With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton wants to ensure that Speed will not win races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X, seeking to rescue his family's business and the racing sport itself.—Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

Speed Racer is the youngest driver in the WRL (World Racing League), and his ultimate goal is to be the best driver in the world. When he was younger, he watched his older brother Rex compete in the Casa Cristo Cross Country Rally. Rex did not survive that race. Now, James "Speed" Racer is participating in that very same cross-country race and is determined to win where his brother did not. All was not lost, because unbeknownst to the Racer family, Rex did not die, but changed his looks and assumed the identity of the masked Racer X. X watches over Speed when he competes in various races around the world.—JamJam

Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive. and most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized: the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed's thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a tempting, lucrative offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret: some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won't drive for Royalton, Royalton will make sure the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family's business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival--the mysterious Racer X--to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.—Warner Bros. Pictures

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been automobile racing. Even his teachers comment that racing is all Speed is capable of. In class, Speed spends all of his time daydreaming about being the racetrack. Speed's parents Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon) run the independent Racer Motors, in which his brother Spritle (Paulie Litt), mechanic Sparky (Kick Gurry), and girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) are also involved. Pops has a business of designing racing cars.

As a child Speed idolized his record-setting older brother, Rex Racer (Scott Porter), who was killed while racing in the Casa Cristo 5000, a cross-country racing rally eight years ago. Before the race, there had been attempts on Rex and his family's life when parcel bombs were sent their way. One night, Rex decided to quit his father's team and went to race for a large corporation. The race itself was a chaos in which Rex was seen using illegal maneuvers to put other racers out of contention. Rex is vilified by the media for being the dirtiest driver in the world. For 5 years Rex took orders from the corporations and was rumored to have connections with the criminal underworld. Rex's trial brought down a racing powerhouse, the Uniron. Uniron was linked to fixer Blackjack Benelli who was sent to prison. Benelli was rumored to have a hand in Rex's death at the Casa Cristo 500.

Rex had taught Speed that a car is a living, breathing thing and that Speed should listen to it while driving.

Now embarking on his own career, Speed Racer is quickly sweeping the racing world with his skill behind the wheel of his brother's car the Mach 5 and his own Formula One car the Mach 6 but remains primarily interested in the art of the race and the well-being of his family. Racing is a brutal sport in the modern age and the cars have very legal offensive and defensive capabilities built in to defeat their rivals on track.

E.P. Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam), owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him. Royalton takes the whole family in his private jet to his corporate HQ where he shows the state-of-the-art facilities he has at his disposal to create unbeatable cars and talented drivers.

Speed is tempted but declines due to his father's distrust of power-hungry corporations & decides to race for his father. Angered, Royalton reveals that for many years the key races have been fixed by corporate interests, including Royalton himself, to gain profits. Royalton takes out his anger on Speed by having his drivers force Speed into a crash that destroys the Mach 6 and suing Racer Motors for intellectual property infringement.

Speed gets an opportunity to retaliate through Inspector Detector (Benno Furmann), head of a corporate crimes division. Racer Taejo Togokahn (Rain) says that he has evidence that could indict Royalton but will only offer it up if Speed and the mysterious masked Racer X (Matthew Fox) agree to race on his team in the Casa Cristo 5000. Taejo was earlier shown to be rescued by Racer X, working for Detector from notorious race fixer Cruncher Block (John Benfield). Taejo was supposed to fix the race but failed to do so & was about to be killed when Racer X attacked Cruncher's pad & rescues Taejo. He tries to lure Taejo to give evidence against Royalton then, but then Taejo had refused.

Taejo says that a win could substantially raise the stock price of his family's racing business, blocking a Royalton-arranged buyout. Speed agrees but keeps his decision secret from his family, and Inspector Detector's team makes several defensive modifications to the Mach 5 to assist Speed in the rally.

After they drive together and work naturally as a team, Speed begins to suspect that Racer X is actually his brother Rex in disguise. His family discovers that he has entered the race and agree to support him. With the help of his family and Trixie, Speed defeats many brutal racers who have been bribed by fixer Cruncher Block to stop him and overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the race. However, Taejo's arrangement is revealed to be a sham, as he was only interested in increasing the value of his family's company so that they could profit from Royalton's buyout.

Taejo also refuses to give any evidence against Royalton to Detector. An angry Speed hits the track that he used to drive with his brother and confronts Racer X with his suspicion that he is Rex. Racer X removes his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face, and tells Speed that Rex truly is dead. Speed returns home and plans to leave, but Pops expresses his pride in Speed's actions, and that he was wrong to not let Speed enter the race since his own stubbornness drove Rex away, before finding out about the race-fixing conspiracy. Taejo's sister Horuko Togokahn (Yu Nan) unexpectedly arrives and gives him Taejo's automatic invitation to the Grand Prix. The Racer family bands together and builds the new Mach 6 in 32 hours.

Speed enters the Grand Prix against great odds: Royalton has placed a $1 million bounty on his head that the other drivers are eager to collect, and he is pitted against legendary Hall of Fame driver Jack "Cannonball" Taylor (Ralph Herforth). Speed overcomes a slow start to catch up with Taylor, who uses a cheating device called a spear hook to latch the Mach 6 to his own car. Speed uses his jump jacks to expose the device to video cameras and cause Taylor to crash. Speed wins the race, having successfully exposed Royalton's crimes.

While Racer X watches it is revealed in a flashback montage that he really is Rex, who has faked his death and undergone plastic surgery to change his appearance as part of his plan to save his family and the sport of racing. He chooses not to reveal his identity to his family, declaring that he must live with his decision. The Racer family celebrates Speed's victory as Speed and Trixie kiss, and Royalton is sent to jail.