Story - Dwight J Zimmerman
Illustrations - Earl Norem

ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE - SIX - SEVEN - EIGHT - NINE - TEN - ELEVEN - TWELVE- THIRTEEN - FOURTEEN - FIFTEEN - SIXTEEN

"Look, Mirage," said the Autobot, Cliffjumper, to his friend. "There's going to be a big cross-country Car Rally! The first prize is free gas and oil for one year!"

"We could sure use that!" said Mirage. "Gas and oil are our food and water! Let's tell Optimus Prime!"

Unfortunately, the super-sensitive ears of the evil Decepticon, Soundwave, heard everything they said.

Soundwave quietly left to tell his leader, Megatron. He knew that Megatron would use this news to plan a trap which would wreck the Autobots.

While Soundwave was telling Megatron what he had heard, Optimus Prime, Mirage, Hound and Cliffjumper looked at the map of the race route.

"This race has three parts - or heats. A different car runs in each part," said Optimus Prime. "Mirage, you take the first heat, because you drive best on winding roads. Hound, you like the mountains, so you take the second heat. Cliffjumper, the last heat is yours because we need someone fast for the finish!"

"Now, let's go to the racetrack!" said Optimus Prime. 'And remember, watch out for Decepticons!"

The starter waved his flag, and the race was on!

"Yahoo! Look at them go!" shouted Spike Witwicky. He and his father, Sparkplug, were good friends of the Autobots. "Wow! Look at that, Dad! Mirage is already in the lead!"

"Yes, son," said Sparkplug. "But this is just the start of the race! The Autobots have a long way to go before they can win!"

"This part has some sharp curves," said Mirage. "But, as a race car, I can handle anything this road has to give!"

"Oh yeah?" said the jet fighter, Skywarp, as he suddenly swooped down. "Let's see how well you handle my missiles and machine-gun bullets!"

"Gulp! Maybe I spoke too soon!" said Mirage as he twisted and turned.

Mirage discovered that he was losing his lead over the other cars. Skywarp laughed evilly as he watched Mirage struggle to run the race and dodge his missiles at the same time.

"I'd better use my secret weapon!" said Mirage.

Suddenly a strange-looking cannon popped out from behind Mirage's cockpit and shot a beam of energy at Skywarp.

"Hey!" shouted Skywarp angrily. "My electrical circuits don't work anymore! I'm out of control!"

"That's my Electro-Disruptor!" said Mirage as Skywarp crashed into the sea. "It's made to mess up electrical circuits - like yours! So long, Skywarp! I have a race to run!"

Mirage raced to make up for lost time. But, when he reached the end of the first heat, as fast as he went, he was still in last place.

"Whew! I'm tired!" gasped Mirage, as he turned back into an Autobot. "Keep your headlights peeled for Decepticons, Hound!"

"Don't worry!" shouted Hound as he kicked into four-wheel drive for the rough road ahead. "My infrared eye-beams can spot a Decepticon a mile away!"

Unfortunately, up ahead, Rumble was planning a different type of trap.

"Hound will be so busy looking for Decepticons, he won't see that the bridge is gone until it's too late!" said Rumble as he turned on his terrible earthquake power. And, with a loud crash, the steel bridge fell to the ground.

"There!" laughed Rumble. 'Another dirty trick well done!"

But as soon as Rumble was gone, Huffer, the Autobots best builder, rolled up.

"I thought Rumble would try something mean like this!" he said. And, in a flash, he began to weld the bridge back together.

"I've got to work as fast as I can," Huffer said. "I just hope I can get everything put back together before the racers come!"

Huffer finished the bridge in record time - even for him! Everyone made it safely across and to the start of the third heat. But, just as Cliffjumper was about to take off Thundercracker attacked!

"My missiles will blow you to bits, Cliffjumper!" said Thundercracker.

"Oh no they won't!" shouted Hound. "Duck, Cliffjumper!" And Hound heroically jumped between the missiles and his friend.

Cliffjumper tried to stop Hound, but he was too late. Thundercracker's missiles shattered Hound into a thousand pieces. As soon as the coast was clear, Ratchet rushed up.

"Get back into the race, Cliffjumper," said the Autobots' medic. "I'll fix Hound!"

"You sure go all to pieces when a missile hits you, Hound," joked Ratchet as he put Hound back together.

"Ouch!" said Hound. "Be careful! You're tightening those screws too tightly, Ratchet!"

"I want to make sure you don't have any screws loose, that's all," said Ratchet.

"I hope Cliffjumper is all right!" said Hound worriedly.

Ratchet nodded. He was worried about what might happen to their friend too.

But it looked as though Hound and Ratchet had nothing to worry about. Cliffjumper was blowing away all the other race cars!

"Yahoo!" shouted Cliffjumper happily. "I was built for speed, and I love to use it! All I have to do is pass that big black car, and I'll win for the Autobots!"

Slowly, Cliffjumper gained on the lead car. Then, when they began to get close to the finish line, they were neck-and-neck!

"Now I have you right where I want you!" shouted the black car's driver.

"Oh, no!" shouted Cliffjumper. "It's Megatron!"

"Right!" shouted Megatron. "My energy cannon will melt you into a lump of worthless metal!"

With an evil laugh, he pulled the trigger.

"Yow! That was close!" said Cliffjumper as he ducked away from the white-hot blast of energy.

"You can't dodge me forever!" growled Megatron.

"He's right!" thought Cliffjumper "What can I do?"

"Megatron's trying to melt Cliffjumper!" shouted Bumblebee, who saw the fight with his telescopic vision. "We must help him, Optimus Prime - fast!"

"Don't worry, Bumblebee," said Optimus Prime. "I know how to handle big bullies like Megatron! All you have to do is find yourself a bigger stick - like this one!"

And, quick as a wink, Optimus Prime pulled a huge telephone pole out of the ground as though it were just a blade of grass.

"Now to take care of Megatron!" said Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime rushed up the race route. Then he stood beside the road, like a baseball batter, waiting for Megatron.

"So! Optimus Prime thinks this race is a baseball game, does he!" shouted Megatron as he saw his enemy. "Well, this 'fast ball' is going to roll right over him!"

But, just as Megatron was about to hit Optimus Prime, Optimus Prime stepped back one step and took a mighty swing with his telephone pole!

K-RRAKK!

"It's a home run!" shouted Optimus Prime as Megatron went sailing into the horizon. "Good-bye and good riddance, Megatron!"

And the winner is... Cliffjumper!

"Congratulations, Cliffjumper!" shouted Spike, Sparkplug and the Autobots.

"I didn't win this race alone," said Cliffjumper "We all won this race together! And that means we all get to share the great first prize!"

"I'm really thirsty!" said Cliffjumper. "Come on! Let's go drink some of our years supply of gas and oil!"

"If you don't mind," said Spike with a smile, "I'll stick to my hot dog and soda!"

Transformers and related characters - ©Hasbro, ©Dreamwave, ©Takara, etc.