TITLE Bastich Knee-Slapper..!
PANEL 1 (Bastich is maniacally driving his car in a flurry of smoke and speed lines while his passengers Hacker-Lad and Faith fear for their lives) BHACKER-LAD: Let up, 'Stich! They haven't raised the speed limit YET! BASTICH: Nope, but by the time they catch up with me, they will have..!
Commentary
Bastich Knee-Slappers were meant to be quick throwaway jokes, and this was a solid example of that.
In this case, it was timely. Congress had just repealed the federal speed limit a few months earlier and Caltrans was set to raise the speed limit from 55mph to 65mph on a bunch of the rural highways surrounding Chico by the end of the year. It would have been all over the news when I drew this, so it was top of mind.
A few weeks later, the speed limit was raised even higher to 70mph in some places.
I'm not sure that Bastich's logic holds up but he seems to have gotten away with it unscathed.