"Speed Racer" Questions

[Jinx]

I started watching the original Speed Racer cartoons with my young son, and we were wondering:

a) Often, a yellow checkered flag is waved. Does this signify something? Note: It is not in lieu of the traditional checkered flag to end the race.
b) Sometimes, the racers must race (on foot) to their cars at the start of the race. Is this reality in any known race (Grand Prix, etc)?
c) Speed wears a monogrammed “G” on his shirts. Why? What does this stand for?

[Czarcasm]

The original Japanese title was “Mach GoGoGo”. From Facebook:

The name of the series, Mach GoGoGo is actually a triple pun:

"Go" is the Japanese word for the number 5. Thus "Mach-go" is the name of the car ("go" also being a suffix attached to the names of ships, etc.), which would be called the Mach 5 in the American adaptation
It is the name of the main character, Go Mifune. (Speed Racer in the American adaptation)
It contains the English word "go."

Taken together, the program’s title means, “Mach-go, Gō Mifune, Go!”. This is what the saying “Go, Speed Racer, Go!” comes from, taking out Gō Mifune and replacing it with his English name.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Jinx

b) Sometimes, the racers must race (on foot) to their cars at the start of the race. Is this reality in any known race (Grand Prix, etc)?

Le Mans Start

The race traditionally began with what became known as the Le Mans start, in which cars were lined up alongside the pit wall in the order in which they qualified. The starting drivers would stand on the opposite side of the front stretch. When the French flag dropped to signify the start, the drivers would run across the track to their cars, which they would have to enter and start without assistance, before driving away.

[Dave_Hartwick]

Yellow flag = slow down, hazard.

[brad_d]

Yellow checkered flag? I’m not familiar with that one. Solid yellow, like Dave Hartwick says, is pretty standard in many types of auto racing.

[Czarcasm]

What was the other color in the yellow checkered flag?

[markm]

@brad_d

Yellow checkered flag? I’m not familiar with that one. Solid yellow, like Dave Hartwick says, is pretty standard in many types of auto racing.

I can’t remember, was it yellow checkered or yellow quartered (two black squares, two yellow squares?) If checkered, I don’t know, but if quartered, that usually means “caution declared, first car across the line becomes pace car”.

[Tom_Tildrum]

Like this?

[lawoot]

I have an old memory of a yellow and red checkered flag.

Ahh - I see from this you tube link that the end of the opening credits has a red and yellow checkerboard background. That may be what I’m remembering.