A friend and I would play the Sega Megadrive version.

There was one track - sand, around water, started going left - which we both loved. The normal race was IIRC 3 laps. But this track could be unlapped. So we would start and by mutual agreement go backwards to increase the number of race laps. Once we got where we wanted, 10 laps, we would line up at the start and do the 3,2,1....

OT: Same guy wanted to emigrate to Canada to be a truck driver. CA said No, don't need you. He trained as a nurse (3 years), Canada said yes. Last I heard he's trucking along.