In the largely reanimated revision — Spite Flight (1933) — the story shows Willie interested in the race's cash prize because it will help him pay off his girlfriend's mom's mortgage.
Animator Grim Natwick initially designed Willie for The Air Race and the subsequent Play Ball, the character's first theatrical release.
The short also features a Bosko look-alike, possibly a joke on the parts of Harman-Ising animators Bob Stokes and Norm Blackburn.
Other Iwerks staffers on the series included Al Eugster, Norm Blackburn, Berny Wolf and Shamus Culhane (who referred to Willie as a "boy Baron von Münchhausen").
After MGM dropped Iwerks, they hired Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising to produce a cartoon series called Happy Harmonies directly for the studio.