Life Could Be a Dream

Chapter 24- The Big Race

Chapter 24- The Big Race

Fifty laps past by quickly. The King was still in the lead. Lightning was still behind, but he was trying to catch up to Chick Hicks. However, Chick did not like that at all. So, he came forward right in front of Lightning right before he could overtake.

"Chick's not making it easy on him today", one of the announcers, Bob Cutlass, commented.

"Oh, man!" the other announcer, Darrell Cartrip exclaimed. "He lost so much momentum! Now, he's gonna have to chase him back down!"

So, Lightning was still stuck in last place and, all of a sudden, spun out! Nobody really knew why, but he just didn't seem focused at all. Well, none of the fans or the press knew why, but his pit crew did. He was too busy thinking about Radiator Springs. The RS gang knew it.

"Hey, kid!" Mack radioed. "You all right?"

"I don't know, Mack", Lightning responded with a sigh. "I... I don't think I-"

He was cut off by Doc. "I didn't come all this way to see you quit."

"Doc?" Lightning glanced over at his pits to see his friends from Radiator Springs cheering him on. This cheered him up immensely. "Guys! You're here! I can't believe this!"

"I knew you needed a crew chief", the Hudson Hornet began over the radio, "but I didn't know it was this bad."

"I thought you said you'd never come back", Lightning reminded him.

"Well", Doc replied, "I really didn't have a choice. Mater didn't get to say goodbye."

"GOODBYE!" the tow truck yelled. "Okay, I'm good!"

Lightning laughed. So did Fudge.

The 95 racer came into the pits and Sarge and Fillmore filled him with gas.

"Hi!" Fudge greeted him excitedly.

Lightning smiled at her. "Hi... You okay?" Even though Fudge wasn't crying anymore, Lightning could tell that she had been.

"She got lost", Luigi explained.

"Poor kid", the racer remarked sympathetically.

"All right", Doc intervened. "Hate to break up the reunion, but you got a race to win. Now, if you can drive as good as you can fix a road, then you can win this race with your eyes shut! Now, get back out there!"

Lightning grinned and rocketed it out of the pits.

"Hot snot! We are back in business!" Doc declared. "Guido! Luigi!" The two Italians shifted their attention away from their daughter and on Doc. "You're goin' up against professional pit crews, boys. You're gonna have to be fast."

"They will not know what bit them!" Luigi proclaimed determinedly.

"Kid", Doc informed Lightning, "you can beat these guys. Find a groove that works for you and get that lap back." He was an entire lap behind the other two competitors.

Lightning obeyed.

"Wow!" Fudge exclaimed, delighted at the sight of the three race cars. "They're really fast! I wish I was that fast! Then I could be a race car like Lightning!"

Doc chuckled. Fudge sure wanted to go fast. Though, he didn't want her to ever go that fast, He cared about her too much to watch her get hurt like that.

As the racers zoomed around the track, the other pit crews took notice of Doc. They nudged each other, whispered excitedly and stared. Soon, they weren't the only ones who had noticed.