Goofs

When the Camaro goes over the hill, there are no cars on the side of the road, and the only vehicles behind it and the Firebird were the CHP motorcycles, yet in the subsequent scene, there are several cars and friends of the racers present.

In the crash involving the convertible the left rear bumper was shown as pulled away from the car. When the car is seen at the motel, the left rear bumper is pushed in.

The road the cars are racing on has no utility poles, but when both the Camaro and later the Cougar go over the cliff, there is a utility pole visible at the side of the road.

During the road race flashback scene and the later race between him and the younger Willaims brother, the trunk of Poncherello's car goes from closed to open to closed again while he is racing.

In the first race flashback scene like the prior scene with the Camaro, when the Cougar goes over the hill, there are no cars on the side of the road, yet in the subsequent scene, there are several people present. This is compounded later when Williams tells Poncherello he saw the first crash.

After bailing out Williams, Poncherello is shown in a jail cell wearing his police equipment on his gun belt. Cells are secure areas and this type of equipment is not allowed in them.

Undertaking a solo pursuit while a cadet would result in termination from the CHP, and since cadets are not sworn officers Bruce Nelson would not be able to arrest the car thieves.

A CHP officer engaging in illegal street racing would be severely disciplined.

Continuing upon prior errors, CHP cadets do not ride police motorcycles or attend briefings, especially in Los Angeles, which is a 6-hour drive from the academy in Sacramento. Once their training is complete, they are assigned to a car and later upon several conditions can they be assigned to motorcycle duty.

Cadets are not issued firearms, yet Bruce carries one on his person.

Poncherello tells Bobby Nelson that he grew up around the corner from the racer they arrested, which is a middle-class neighborhood. In prior seasons, it was revealed he grew up in poor Hispanic gang territory and was a gang member at one point.

Ponch grew up in East L.A., which is large inner-ring suburb of Los Angeles. Although East L.A. has dangerous and run-down areas, it also has what would still be considered middle-class neighborhoods. Like many L.A.-area neighborhoods, East L.A. can go from beautiful on one street to downright dangerous-looking on the next.

When Poncherello goes to bail out Williams, he is seen entering an LAPD building. Prisoners in California are handled by Sheriffs so the LAPD would have no involvement in a CHP arrest.

It is possible that the suspect hasn't yet been arraigned, so he's not technically in jail; he's in a holding cell. Almost all LAPD stations have holding cells. Prisoners aren't transported to county jails (run by sheriff's deputies) until they are arraigned.

Since the suspect was arrested by the CHP, it's unlikely that he would be turned over to the LAPD, yet it's also possible that he was wanted by the LAPD on previous charges or that it simply made more sense to detain him at the closest LAPD station. CHP Central is nowhere near Mulholland Drive.

An obvious stunt double is used for Poncherello in the first road race flashback scene.

When the Cougar is seen overturning, there is no fuel tank in it. A car could not race with no fuel tank, however, this was a standard safety procedure to minimize fire hazards. Due to this fact, the car could not explode as was shown.

Poncherello's involvement in an illegal road race that resulted in a fatality would have excluded him from employment with the CHP. Aside from the fact that Poncherello later mentions doing so, this fact would have been discovered during a pre-employment background investigation.

Even if it had not been discovered during Ponch's pre-employment, his freely admitting to his colleagues that he had participated in illegal street racing, which resulted in the death of a person, should have pricked up the ears of Getraer enough to have caused Ponch's termination from the CHP. Instead, everyone just takes it in stride and shrugs it off.

When describing his car's equipment, Williams says the drive shaft is chrome. That is a finish applied to metal. Drive shafts are made of either steel or aluminum.

The female vice squad officer tells Bobby Nelson to give her a call about her party and walks away. She failed to give him her phone number or name.

In several flashbacks, Ponch is apparently the same age as he is as an officer with the CHP. It would have been more believable if they had attempted to make him look younger or used a younger actor.

Harlan tells Poncherello and Bobby Nelson that he named the dog northbound for the direction he was going on the freeway. When Bruce Nelson found the dog, it was not on a freeway, as there are no sidewalks on freeways.

Bobby Nelson was over 20 seconds behind Williams when he arrives and tells Poncherello he thinks Williams was doing about 90 MPH. Being that far back, he would have no means to accurately or lawfully determine the exact speed of Willaims' car.