The kart wheels are similar to the previous games' Wumpa fruits. Rather than being 3D objects, they're billboards (sprites that always directly face the camera). They're more complex than the Wumpa fruits in that their animation changes depending on the camera angle, giving them the impression of being in 3D. This was necessary because of hardware limitations.
The faces on boss garages don't look pixelated because they're not textures, but rather fully polygonal compositions.
Nitros Oxide's name derives from the gas called nitrous oxide. It's interesting to note his name is spelled exactly like the gas in Crash Nitro Kart.
Nitros Oxide was originally another evil scientist with a more standard human appearance. During development, the story was that he was trying to make the world faster and faster until the end of time because of his obsession with speed. While further details about the original story are scarce, an old comic suggests Oxide would use a machine called the X Device.
Oxide has unused voice lines that suggest he was originally intended to be playable. A GameShark code that lets you play as him uses these lines during races.
There is roughly a minute and half worth of removed dialogue for Oxide in the disc, suggesting he was going to taunt you in cutscenes between areas.
Ripper Roo was originally going to speak English. The removed lines can still be found in the disc, but in the end, the developers opted for making him speak through laughter with subtitles. The Japanese version does have him talking normally, though.
Some tracks have the same names as a few real locations, likely out of coincidence. These are Tiger Temple, Mystery Caves, Glacier Park and Dragon Mines.
The female bandicoots who hand out prizes (Ami, Isabella, Liz and Megumi) are named after ladies who were involved in the Crash Bandicoot games. As demonstrated in the credits:
CRASH BANDICOOT
Marketing Manager: Ami Matsumura-Blaire
Product Manager: Megumi Hosoya
CRASH TEAM RACING
Director of Marketing: Ami Matsumura-Blaire
Product Manager: Isabelle Tomatis
Though there's an Isabelle instead of an Isabella, she is still the most likely origin of the character's name.
In 1999, Pizza Hut did an advertising partnership with Sony. Robin Clark (Pizza Hut's manager of national advertising) wanted to advertise their then-new Stuffed Crust Pizza with an image that portrayed 'fun'. Their association with Sony allowed them to use Crash Bandicoot for that effect, so a few TV ads were made using the character. According to Clark:
"We decided to use Crash in the advertising because he brings attitude to the game and the promotion. We actually used the actor that plays the character on television commercials and had him come in for photo shoots. Because we weren't restricted to the Crash Bandicoot in the game, it entitled us to really maximize on the fun nature of the character."
Additionally, Pizza Hut was giving away free PlayStation demo discs to customers buying the Stuffed Crust Pizza. The first disc had a demo of Crash Team Racing, as well as Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Ape Escape, Final Fantasy VII and Cool Boarders 4.
