I have at least seen Speed racer referenced on Family Guy and SNL, which are some pretty main stream programs in the US. Heck I heard of Pokemon referenced in the horror film Slither, South Park and the Daily Show. In America you know something has made it into the pop culture realm when reference by other pop culture programs.
I haven't heard of any major pop culture references for DBZ, maybe Robot Chicken, but everything get referenced there.
Also looking better than Speed racer isn't anything to brag about. The poster still looks like a cheesy 90s film.
Actually, Speed Racer being referenced in a mainstream program has nothing to do with it. The fact that the writer references it does, and that doesn't necessarily mean a larger portion of America knows Speed Racer over Dragonball. It just means the writer is a fan. I've heard plenty of references to fairly unknown material in mainstream programs. That's not really very important.
Dragonball / Z, however, has been referenced in plenty of mainstream media, world-wide theatrical films, to say the least, you must've just not seen them;
40-Year Old Virgin, Are We There Yet, Agent Cody Banks, Merry Christmas, American Gun, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Glass House, War of the Worlds, to name a few.
For the most part, it's casually spoken about. For the most part, meaning a majority of films it is referenced in, it's referenced in a way "Oh, we all know about that", and only seldomly do I see it referenced in a curious, "*insert character name* from Dragonball Z" fashion.
To be honest, other than the Geico commercials (which was a car insurance ad, btw, used Speed Racer for obvious reasons), I have rarely seen it referenced--but more importantly, spoken about, even amongst anime fans. Don't hold me to it, though I can only see such a title being referenced in something remotely related to anime, racing, criminals and hitmen. All of which movie genres I watch, and never do I hear it referenced. Dragonball has popped up in plenty of mainstream, -'un-related' to anime- genres. In fact, in plenty of the very stereotypical comedy films--dramas, and action flicks. It's pretty widely accepted as popular culture.
EDIT: South Park spoofed Dragonball Z in their Bigger, Larger and Uncut movie. (You probably haven't seen this, either).
Robot Chicken spoofed Dragonball Z, too.
Dragonball Z pretty much became a regular on the spoofing act via programs and characters on Cartoon Network. Outside the CN, it was referenced in plenty of Nickelodeon programs, and as I've mentioned, world-wide threatrical film releases.
Your point on the Speed Racer references is pretty moot, however Pokemon is another argument. Pokemon launched in 1997 as a new genre, which became a big fad amongst kids. It's still pretty fresh, and it won't slow down amongst the children. The name is so widely spoken due to the merchandise being its biggest merit in which it sells[blatantly the cardgame]. I bet you thought Pokemon came out before Dragonball. I bet you also thought Dragonball was influenced by Pokemon.
This actually leads me to another hilarious debate. Despite being on only one network, Dragonball Z's recording-setting ratings still outmatch that of Family Guy's and South Park's.
i mean
