Muffy Takes the Wheel

Summary
Muffy enlists her dad to help her make a winning car for the first Annual Lakewood Derby, but he completely takes over.

Plot
D.W. is seen playing Cranky Bees on the computer in the Reads' den, and complains that she lost again. Arthur says to the viewers how his mom always says that there's no shame in asking for help when you need it. D.W. then says, "Help!" and Arthur helps her for a moment. Mrs. Read then comes in the den and notices that they're playing Cranky Bees, noting that everyone plays the game at the office she works at. Mrs. Read then shows Arthur and D.W. how to pop the balloons in-game. When Mrs. Read can't figure out how to beat the level, Grandma Thora comes into the den and takes over the game. Arthur notes that sometimes, instead of helping you out with something, people end up doing it for you. D.W. says, "This game is for the birds. Let's go outside." and Arthur and D.W. leave the den while Mrs. Read and Grandma Thora are still playing Cranky Bees.

Muffy Takes the Wheel

After the title card, Mr. Ratburn tells the class that they are going to make race cars out of blocks of wood for the 1st Annual Lakewood Derby. He says that their parents should help with some things like tools, but most of the work should be done by themselves. Some of the students say that they will be the winner, but Muffy says that they're all going to lose; her dad owns Crosswire Motors, so cars are in Muffy's blood.

Later, after school, Mr. Crosswire comes back home and parks his car in the garage. Muffy asks her dad if he could help her make the race car. Mr. Crosswire remembers doing the same type of project when he was Muffy's age and he won the blue ribbon. Mr. Crosswire agrees to help Muffy with her project and Muffy makes an idea, but Mr. Crosswire suggests to her that she should have more ideas before she decides on a final design. Mr. Crosswire shows Muffy three cars and she likes the third one, the '73 Muscle Car. Mr. Crosswire then starts talking about the list of objects that they will need for the project.

At school the next day, Buster shows his idea to the others: a picture of a pirate ship with wheels on it. Francine says that she knew Buster's idea would be crazy. Muffy comes over and likes his idea, but asks Buster if he could actually build it. Buster moans because he didn't know that he had to build it and Arthur smiles while shaking his head. Arthur asks Muffy if he could see the drawing of her car. Muffy shows Arthur and the others her drawing, which she claims was her idea, but admits that her dad helped her with the design. She still insists that her car will win.

Later, Mr. Crosswire is showing Muffy how to make the shape of the car, but Muffy thinks she's doing it wrong after her dad kept correcting her technique. Mr. Crosswire then starts to take over. A little while later, Muffy is rubbing sandpaper on the car and says that her hands are getting tired. Mr. Crosswire says that he will take over, and tells Muffy to watch his technique. After he finishes sandpapering, Muffy asks what's next. Then, Mr. Crosswire checks the weight of the car, and keeps taking on and off some metal tools. He keeps saying that it's either too heavy or too light. Muffy asks her dad if she can check her email and he says, "Sure thing." He then goes back to what he was doing.

Muffy sees Francine's design in the Sugar Bowl the next day and likes it. Francine says that it's not finished yet and asks Muffy how her car is coming along. Muffy says that it's going great, but she hasn't done very much. Francine knew that Muffy was getting her dad to do the whole project for her, but Muffy disagrees and says that she wants to do it herself, but that her dad keeps taking over. Francine suggests to Muffy to let her dad know how she feels, and Muffy thinks that it's a good idea. Muffy then points out some flaws with Francine's car.

Muffy is back at home and is thinking of what to say to her dad, but he calls her over to see something. Mr. Crosswire shows Muffy the car's speed in a course. Muffy then has a fantasy in which Mr. Crosswire gets sad of not using his idea and gives a car at Crosswire Motors to Timmy Tibble in exchange for a tricycle. After the fantasy, Muffy changes her mind of saying anything. That night, Mr. Crosswire tells Muffy that the car is finished, but Muffy wants to see it in the morning instead. After not being able to fall asleep, Muffy goes downstairs and sees Mr. Crosswire's car in the garage and then decides to make a car by herself. She calls Bailey to help her make the car and they stay up all night long.

The next morning, Muffy shows her dad the car she made. Mr. Crosswire asks why she made her own car and Muffy says it was her dad's car, not hers. Mr. Crosswire then realizes that Muffy was right about the car. Muffy then asks her dad what he thinks of her car, and Mr. Crosswire says that he likes it.

At the Lakewood Derby, Muffy wins round one and in the finals, she gets second place with George being first. Francine says that Muffy really does has cars in her blood. After school, Mr. Crosswire is satisfied that Muffy got second place and Muffy is surprised when she sees that they are going for a ride in the same car that Mr. Crosswire showed to her earlier. They go for a drive wearing sunglasses, ending the episode.

Major

 * Bailey
 * Ed Crosswire
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Francine Frensky

Minor

 * D.W. Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Arthur Read

Cameo

 * The Brain
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Fern Walters
 * George Lundgren
 * Binky Barnes
 * Alex
 * Maria Pappas

Episode connections

 * Cranky Bees is seen again in "Two Minutes."
 * This episode's plot is similar to a combination of "Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous" and "Muffy's Art Attack."
 * George wins another contest.
 * Binky's derby car was only a block of wood with wheels, similar to his other low-effort wood projects, like in "Arthur's Dummy Disaster" and "The Silent Treatment."
 * Muffy is accused a third time of stealing credit. The other times were "How the Cookie Crumbles" and "Muffy's Art Attack."

Cultural references

 * In the beginning of the show, D.W. struggles playing "Cranky Bees," a parody to the popular game .
 * The Lakewood Derby is a reference to the Pinewood Derby, where eight year-old boys compete in a race using cars built out of the aforementioned wood.
 * The Crossvette is a reference to the.

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