Steven's melody for "Race For The Prize" dates back all the way to the Transmissions From The Satellite Heart sessions. Later when Steven added imitation Mellotron strings to the song, Wayne became excited about the song's possibilities.

Wayne's quote from Staring At Sound

"It [the original 'Race' demo recorded during the Transmissions sessions] sounded like a car commercial, or the sort of thing that you'd hear at the beginning of a football game. Now it was a whole other story. Suddenly it seemed like it could be Frank Sinatra on one side and Led Zeppelin on the other. During that time I started to feel that we take a lot from the world, but we haven't really stepped up to the plate and said, 'Here's what we have got to offer.' We act like this music is the biggest deal ever, but it's all self-serving: None of it helps the world. Our generation never cared about these things; it was always about us. Like with caner, we think, 'Someone is going to find a cure.' Not us, but someone, and in fact, it's never going to get done if we don't do it."