@Jack_Sassy:
What, is the orange driver related to the late Dusty Hill from ZZ Top?

These remind me of the Matchbox Mini Ha-ha car from the 70's

@TheOtherMike said:
"Another one I had to check the database to refresh my memory of whether I owned it. I loved those little Racers sets with the... What do you call those figures, anyway? "Microfigs" is already taken. "Racerfigs," maybe?"

I called them blobfigs.

Normally you can sort of tell which is which by the names but I’ve got no idea here. If I had to guess, Hot Arrow is the orange one?

@MCLegoboy said:
"I'm sorry, I think my eyes just threw up from reading those names. Absolutely horrendous.

On the one hand, they aren't just the trope of alliterative names, sometimes they're just too prevalent, but the combinations of words here are pretty bad. Now Sprinter Maverick actually doesn't sound bad, we can keep Maverick Sprinter as long as we swap the words, but Hot Arrow just sounds like an unfortunate accident. Like you farted out something fierce and a little extra occurred or maybe you got shot with glowing projectile, either way, not good. I don't mind keeping the Arrow part, but just describing it as Hot is not working here. It needs a bit more dynamic flare.

Perhaps we go with Sprinter Maverick and Blazing Arrow, now those are some 90s names still spilling over into the early 2000s I can work with."

Maverick and H.O.T are team names

Still have these two, and the tie-in comic as well - Maverick Sprinter won the race, by the way.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Jack_Sassy:
What, is the orange driver related to the late Dusty Hill from ZZ Top?"

Possibly, maybe that's the origin, since he is driving down a dusty hill.

@MCLegoboy: Your mind seems to work in an... interesting fashion, if you can get that from the phrase "hot arrow."

@Zordboy: "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"

A fun inexpensive way to get two of the pull-back motor driven cars from the Drome Racers theme with a ramp. It's apparently a wobbly ramp as it rests on a single boat stud in the middle, and those flags/banners/panels can hinge. Such a design for an obstacle would make for an interesting race...
This is one of the few sets from the theme that I recall someone I knew owning. Looking back at it now it's not very substantial.

@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Once again, 90s minifigures undertaking the by-now-typical drastic career changes. At some point, it appears, Achu gave up his job of guardian of the Sun Disk (5906) to become a racer in the Drome. If the Adventurers or villains took it, I suppose that left him out of a job and needing a new career, and I guess team H.O.T. had a vacancy.

Meanwhile his rival... first of all, with that plain yellow body is he racing naked apart from his helmet?! But in any case, he began his career with the Aquasharks (6115 and others), at some point defected to the Aquaraiders (2161 & 2162), then abandoned the undersea wars entirely to... act in Star Wars (7130)? Or maybe to join the rebel alliance, depending on whether Star Wars is real or a movie in Lego canon.

Clearly his weapon looking like a video camera inspired him, because he went on to become a TV Sports cameraman in 3408, before his path finally took him to the Drome, where he part-timed with Team Maverick while also racing apart from them under the pseudonym Blue Power (4298). Aside from the re-release of his Star Wars debut, he hasn't been heard of again since.

...I love tracing the lives of minifigures through their random, varied careers. It's fun xD"

Now I would like to see a match between the Red Blizzard from 4593 and Hot Arrow. AKA Senor Palomar vs Achu. In spite of the fact that both vehicles are vastly different types of course. When I looked up his appearances I also found out Palomar ended his career as a basketball player...?

@Brickalili said:
"Normally you can sort of tell which is which by the names but I’ve got no idea here. If I had to guess, Hot Arrow is the orange one?"

Yep.
You can tell by the other sets, that had a only a single car. Team Maverick always uses Green/Lime colors like Maverick Storm (4583) while team H.O.T. always uses primarily yellow with a bit orange like Hot Scorcher (4584 which also probably has there lead driver, Exocet). Also not to be confused with team Red, who use red mixed with orange.

Other teams were Nitro (Nitro Pulverizer, Blue/Medium Blue), Exo Force (Slammer G-Force, Black/Red) and Zero (Zero Tornado, also Blue).

If you look at all these sets, theyre each in a different gear. This ones in second. Anybody know whats up with that?

@gorf43 said:
"If you look at all these sets, theyre each in a different gear. This ones in second. Anybody know whats up with that? "

It's the motor type. The 2002 sets featured motors that ranged from 1-6 depending on power and size. 2003 saw the introduction of Type 7, and 2004 sets used an entirely new motor that became the standard in pull-back Racers.

Tries at Chibi Minifigs look like actual garbage aside from the baby Minidolls that they use in the Disney book sets and stuff.

@Trigger_ said:
"Tries at Chibi Minifigs look like actual garbage aside from the baby Minidolls that they use in the Disney book sets and stuff."

They were actually more of an attempted evolution of 2001 Xalax Racers figures. The 2002 ones were customizable, while the Xalax ones were just a single piece. The 2002 ones did even work with the catapult mechanism of the Xalax Racers, although not as good as the original figures.

@Trigger_ said:
"Tries at Chibi Minifigs look like actual garbage aside from the baby Minidolls that they use in the Disney book sets and stuff."

The figs in these sets were actually meant to represent a cockpit and the upper part of a minifig torso, so as to make it look like a full size fig was sitting in the car.