No to both above.
The game was released in 1996 (so says both Underdogs and Mobygames). I thought that this would be easy, but here are some more hints:
1. When you win races you win money with which you upgrade your car. You also win money for destroying the enemy cars.
2. A famous 3rd person shooter star is one of the racing characters (most of the this character's games were published by the same companies as the game in question)
Many cookies to the person who guesses the game and the character
Hope that helps a bit.