Dragstrip (WFC)

Dragstrip is a Decepticon Stunticon from the Aligned continuity family.

"Wildbreak, my Pebbles!"

Dragstrip (or Drag Strip) is always looking for a way to get ahead. Vicious and opportunistic, it doesn't take much for him to set his sights on higher and higher prizes... even if it means selling out his fellow Stunticons. He's not the brightest or the strongest Decepticon around, but he's just bright enough and just strong enough to be a major pain in the rear axle. And with a nitro-powered booster-rocket available in both vehicle and robot mode, chasing him is a risky prospect.

Often he finds himself paired with the considerably weaker-strutted Wildbreak, who he has to browbeat and threaten on a regular basis to get their job done. When the two combine into "Dragbreak", Dragstrip is the one in command of the combiner mode's motor functions. The two of them can combine further with their fellow Stunticons to form Menasor.

Fiction

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Voice actor: Maurice LaMarche (English), Klaus Lochthove (German), Diego Baldoin (Italian)

"All right funny men, I'll prove to you you're wasting your money."

Drag Strip borrowed Motormaster's Cybertronian technology detector, intending to use it to find something to get himself in his boss's good graces. He and Wildbreak headed to the human city of West Rock and broke into a cache of Cybertronian loot. Despite a few minor setbacks involving Drag Strip being frozen solid, they were packing to leave when Bumblebee's team turned up. The two Cons eventually managed to give them the slip, but discovered that the Autobots had shut off the only bridge accessing the city. The pair merged into Dragbreak to fight the Autobots atop a parking building — though initially successful, they were ultimately defeated when Bumblebee dropped the roof on them, but escaped after the damaged parking structure partially collapsed. Bee Cool

"You have just broken the camel's back with that straw. You have ridiculed my brother Stunticons. You have just made fun of something very big that's close to my heart."

Having gotten his hands on a Cybertronian relic, Drag Strip was pursued by the Autobots until he caught them in a methane explosion. He returned to Motormaster with the relic, which turned out to be a Gravitic Adjuster when he tried it out on Wildbreak. Sent to cause some havoc with the device, Drag Strip attacked a State Trooper station, successfully drawing out the Bee Team. Though the Adjuster gave him an edge, he was eventually defeated by the two Sideswipes (long story) and the Autobots relieved him of his new weapon. The Great Divide

Labouring under the misconception that winning the Crown City Grand Prix would make them the literal "Ruler of the Roads", Drag Strip and the three other Stunticon cars entered the race. Drag Strip was pulled over by Strongarm, but refused to believe her assertion that the Stunticons had it wrong, and resumed racing. He began to muse that if he won, maybe he wouldn't turn the title over the Motormaster, however he and Wildbreak failed to take out the lead driver. Their race came to an abrupt end when one of Heatseeker's missiles was redirected into them and they were forced to escape before the Autobots caught up with them. Disordered Personalities The Stunticons later had fun harrassing a police car, however Motormaster was not impressed with their efforts to date. The Golden Knight

When the Stunticons discovered a maglev train that was faster than them, Motormaster ordered his four subordinates to bring him its power source. Drag Strip and the others quickly found the Autobots were onto them, and during the ensuing fight, the train was put into motion with the Stunticons on board. Despite their best efforts, Drag Strip and his three cohorts were knocked from the train, and later had to report to a very unhappy Motormaster. Railroad Rage

Drag Strip and the other Stunticons found themselves on the end of a tirade from Motormaster, who was disappointed they had not defeated the Autobots yet. He took part in Motormaster's new plan, which involved them luring the Autobots to a desert location and then forming Menasor, with Drag Strip becoming the combiner's right arm. He and Wildbreak again were berated, this time by Menasor when they were unable to dislodge their sword from the ground. The plan to secure a satellite dish which was part of a meteor deflection system ended in failure when the Autobots used the dish on Menasor, sending him flying. Combine and Conquer

When the Autobots took off in Optimus Prime's ship, the Stunticons followed in their own ship so they could mount a surprise attack in space. This led them to detect Windblade's cache of technology on the Moon and they headed there to investigate. Driving across the Moon's surface, the Stunticons found themselves under attack from Bumblebee's team until Motormaster turned the tables. Though their leader ordered them to finish off the Autobots, Dragstrip was more interested in seeing the contents of the cache and followed their leader to it. This turned out to be fortunate as Motormaster was unable to break through the cache's defences on his own, and the Stunticons were able to merge into Menasor to do so. Mission accomplished, the Stunticons headed back towards their ship and again combined to destroy Prime Force One, when they found it parked next to their ride. Unfortunately for them, the combined Autobots caught up with them and defeated Menasor when the five Stunticons came into conflict with each other. The five Decepticons were later loaded into stasis pods and taken into Optimus Prime's custody. Moon Breaker

Games

Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)

"Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!"

Voice actor: Eric Artell (English), Martial Le Minoux (French)

War for Cybertron - Autobots/Decepticons

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

"Pow! Right in the kisser!"

Fall of Cybertron

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Rise of the Dark Spark (console)

Toys

Robots in Disguise (2015)

"One a' these days..."

• Menasor (Team Combiner, 2017)

Released as part of the Team Combiner set along with Motormaster, Wildbreak, Heatseeker, and Slashmark, "Decepticon Dragstrip" is a Scout-sized figure that transforms from vehicle to robot in just a few simple steps, sharing a similar transformation with Sideswipe. In robot mode, he has very limited articulation. He can convert into an arm (either left or right thanks to his pivoting thumb) for any Team Combiner set, although he usually forms Menasor's right arm. His vehicle spoiler seems to be removable like Wildbreak's, but it was permanently glued.

Unlike the Crash Combiner toy below, Dragstrip features the correct design from his appearance in the TV show.

"ONE OF THESE DAYS WILDBREAK, I'LL BE THE TORSO ONCE AGAIN!!!"

• Decepticon Dragstrip & Wildbreak (Crash Combiner, 2017)

Released as part of the third wave of the Combiner Force Crash Combiners subline, Dragstrip is a roughly Scout-class sized figure that changes from his futuristic car into a robot in four extremely simple steps, sharing a transformation scheme with Sideswipe. His individual robot mode only has limited articulation in his shoulders, but he can also spread his legs for a more dramatic pose thanks to his combined form's transformation scheme. He also has a little green arrow above the connector on the front bumper indicating where to crash him to combine with other figures. A 5mm post hole on top of his vehicle mode can accommodate a compatible accessory or Weaponizer Minicon, though he cannot use it in his individual robot mode. Dragstrip can be stood up with or without his Combiner Legs flipped out.

Dragstrip comes packaged with his Stunticon partner Wildbreak and is intended to combine with him to form Dragbreak's upper torso. Connecting them to each other will activate Wildbreak's automatic transformation, but Dragstrip must be converted manually. He can also combine with any other Crash Combiner figure to form a random Combiner.

There appears to have been an error at some point in the development of this two-pack wherein Dragstrip and Wildbreak's colors have been swapped, not only robbing Dragstrip of his body and show-accurate role of torso in their combined form, but also the more 'traditional' Dragstrip vehicle mode (which is still inaccurate to Dragstrip's vehicle mode in the show).

Notes

• Drag Strip's portrayal in Robots in Disguise owes something to legendary actor and comedian Jackie Gleason, in particular his character of Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners. Thus Drag Strip's frequent utterance of Ralph's threatening catchphrase "One of these days..." If that doesn't mean anything to you, then the sitcom character was also the inspiration for Fred Flintstone from The Flintstones.
• Dragstrip's parts are available in Fall of Cybertron multiplayer, classified as Slayer-type components for the Infiltrator class (although his wheels can also be used by Destroyers).
• Drag Strip is the only Stunticon other than Motormaster whose name, design and limb placement for his combined form remain relatively intact from the original G1 inspiration in Robots in Disguise.

Foreign names

• Mandarin: Qǐangjié (抢劫, "Robbery")
• Russian: Gonki (Fall of Cybertron, Гонки, "Race"), Ruchnik (Rise of the Dark Spark, Ручник, "Hand-Brake")