Saturdays of Thunder

Phil Hartman as Troy McClure

"Saturdays of Thunder" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1991. In the episode, Homer takes a fatherhood quiz and realizes that he knows nothing about Bart. He strives to be a better father and learns that Bart is participating in a Soap Box Derby. Homer and Bart make a racer together; however, it is not very good. Bart decides to drive Martin's far superior racer instead, after Martin is involved in an accident where he receives a series of serious skin burns. Homer is at first devastated, but decides that he must be a good father and support Bart.

The episode was written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, and directed by Jim Reardon. American actors Larry McKay and Phil Hartman both made guest appearances as a television announcer and Troy McClure respectively. "Saturdays of Thunder" features cultural references to films such as Ben-Hur, Lethal Weapon, and Days of Thunder. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics, who praised its sports theme. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 14.9, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.

Homer takes a fatherhood quiz and discovers he knows next to nothing about his son. He signs up for therapy at the National Fatherhood Institute and after a confidence-building pep talk, offers to help Bart build his own soapbox racer for the upcoming Soap Box Derby. At the qualifying race, Bart and Martin form an alliance vowing that either must somehow beat bully Nelson and his very intimidating racer, the Roadkill 2000, "armed with every dirty trick in the book." As the race starts, Bart can barely reach any kind of noticeable speed with Homer's racer and it eventually falls apart. Martin's sleek, aerodynamic racer easily wins, but loses control at high speed and crashes. Martin finds out that due to his injuries he can no longer race and opts for Bart and himself to combine forces by having Bart race Martin's racer over the racer he and Homer built.