Just a quick heads up before reading, this takes the form of an unedited interview and I'm not sure if Lightning is being interviewed for a paper or if it is for TV, either for a talk show or a TV special. I don't know who the reporter is, I do think she is female though; but I also don't think it's anyone we have met in the Cars universe. That's why the reporter is simply referred to as that or she in a couple of places. Hopefully you will enjoy it. Now onto the story. (There will be spoilers.) (And if you're thinking TV show think about someone like Ellen DeGeneres but not necessarily her.)
"We're here with Lightning McQueen to talk to him about his come back race he shared with Cruz Ramirez. So, Mr. McQueen, will you ever be pulling a stunt like that again?" The reporter asked.
"That depends on which stunt you're talking about. Depending on who you ask they'll say my entire career has been filled with stunts." McQueen replied with a straight face one eyebrow slightly raised.
"Very funny Mr. McQueen." The reporter responded dryly. "I think we all know what I meant was you switching out for Cruz Ramirez, letting her finish the race in your place while you took over as crew chief."
"No, no more switch outs, it's something that would only work once. The officials would never allow it to happen again." Shaking his hood slightly.
"Then why do it if you knew it would only be a one-time thing?"
"When I was out there, I realized I wasn't going to win, skill can only get you so far when everyone is faster than you. There was no way I was going to keep pace with the leaders in the long run. I came to terms with that as my sponsor was trying to get Cruz to leave; I knew in that moment that if she left, she would never get the chance to live her dream of racing. I had to give her that chance."
"Did you ever think that this could be your last chance to prove to the rookies even after your crash that you could still compete?"
"Oh, I was, trust me I was; ever since my crash I had that thought. A crash changed the" Lightning hesitated, changing his mind about what he was going to say. "Doc has been on my mind a lot lately and how after his crash, it ended his racing career until he became my crew chief and mentor. They shut him out of what he loved to do and because of that he became bitter and grumpy and decided if they didn't want to do anything with him, he didn't want anything to do with them. I didn't want to turn into a grumpy old race car, though some might argue that point a bit."
"Oh? Like who?" The reporter rolled forward a little, interested in what Lightning would say.
"Oh, you know, a couple of people like Cruz or Sally. They like to tease me about being the veteran of the sport now."
"Ah ha, moving on now." The reporter rolled back. "What did you think when they decided to appoint you joint winners then?"
"Honestly, I was surprised, when Cruz came in first I thought since she was the one who finished the race, it would solely be her win and by then I had already found being her crew chief felt just as good as winning the race myself. Though it did give me the option of when I'm going to stop racing."
"Oh yes, we had stumbled on a rumor that you and your sponsor had a bit of a deal going on since the changing of hands. Could you tell us a bit about that?"
"Well, I don't know where you heard it from but since I sort of referenced it, I guess I should explain. I wasn't doing as well on the training equipment as Sterling Silver hoped I would be, so, he wanted to start marketing me as a full out brand. I'm a race car not a spokes person, I want to race not sell stuff. I had never really thought of myself as a brand even though there are somethings out there that do. Thus, we made a compromise I train how I wanted to and if I won the race I got to say when I'm done racing, if I lost I'd sell his products. His only condition was that I bring Cruz with me to train, since she was the one supposed to be training me."
"And you won the race; in part, so what did you decide?"
"Well obviously I'm still going to race it just won't be as constant as previous years, mostly non-profit and charity races, or maybe I'll try another World Prix."
"Even after the disaster of the first one?" She asked in surprise.
"Sure, the first one was set up to fail from the start but once they switched hands to someone who actually cares, there haven't been any problems."
"Alright then. Now that we've mentioned Cruz Ramirez a few times in our interview we're going to focus on her for a bit. So, when you first met Ms. Ramirez what did you think of her?"
"Before she was introduced as a trainer. I saw her on the racing simulator so I thought she was a racer. I was right in the end, but once she was down she was introduced as my trainer. I honestly didn't think much of her ultra hyper and talkative nature. Her ways of training were very different to my traditional training from Doc. He didn't use any sophisticated technology just a good old dirt or asphalt track and he preferred dirt."
"Talking about the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, you kind of pulled what you did in your rookie year disappearing only to return in the nick of time to race. Did Ms. Ramirez or the Hudson Hornet influence this second disappearance?"
"Whoa, digging up the past a bit here, let's get two things straight, I didn't disappear this past time. Cruz and I were training until the last minute. You could say that Cruz and I were training each other. I was helping teach her the old ways, while she was teaching me the current ways. Which, in the end taught the both of us how to work together. That, won us the race, not luck like some have been saying. And I had explained what had happened to me after that last race of my rookie year; the where I had disappeared to and how it wasn't by choice." He stated obviously annoyed by the question.
"We only bring it up because some people have been comparing your last-minute arrival at both races, and supposed disappearances the week before." The reporter back tracked.
"Well I can tell you the two maybe related in a round about way, but are no way the same. Consequently, Doc did influence it a bit, but Cruz, she just got pulled along for the ride. Mainly because she was told to, to start."
"Therefore, the Hudson Hornet did influence you but Ms. Ramirez didn't?"
"Yep, that's about right."
"Can you than explain what you mean by related but not the same?"
"I can, there maybe a fair amount of retreading my rookie year though and I might go off topic or off on a bit of a tangent just to warn you."
"I'm sure we'll be fine, we'll call it a refresher for those who might not be aware or have forgotten."
"Well don't know if you know this but those directly involved with the racing world sure haven't forgotten my rookie year."
"I'm sure they haven't but there are those who are more of casual fans that might not know; particularly if they're newer to the racing world."
Well then, if you go back to my rookie year, I was the hotshot rookie who thought he knew everything. For those of you who are newbies think the Jackson Storm of current, that's who I was in my year or at least the closest comparison. I think he has more respect for his crew than I did at the time. I was the up and coming rookie of the year, right at the top with The King Strip Weathers and nudging Chick Hicks from his runner up position. I was an arrogant jerk who went through three crew chiefs in a single season and had his entire pit crew quit because I didn't take the time to learn their names and treated them like a piece of equipment.
I assumed when it was announced, that a rookie winning the Piston Cup for the first time was what had never happened before, not a three-way tie like it was. I thought I had the worst sponsors, who were bad for my image, which I know of course isn't true. Rusty and Dusty were the best sponsors I could have. I had wanted the Dinoco sponsorship so bad and thought winning the race would do that.
Before it was announced that it was a three-way tie, The King Strip Weathers came over to give me a piece of advice which I only half listened to at the time, as I dreamed about being team Dinoco. The fact was it was truly an excellent piece of advice that he was correct about. It boils down to you're only as good as the team behind you. If you have a good team you can work with and they you, treat them with the respect they deserve, they will help you go far. At that time, my pit crew had only stormed off a few minutes ago being very vocal about them quitting and me calling myself a one man show, hence the well-deserved lecture.
That's what you get when you don't give people the respect they deserve, or listen to them. Also, when someone tells you to get tires do so, or you end up on the last stretch with tires blowing out and a three-way tie on your wheels."
"Speaking from experience just a little Mr. McQueen?"
"Maybe, you know, just a little." Shrugging before carrying on. "Anyway, this started crucial time in my life. I wanted to leave as soon as I could. I wanted to be at the tie breaker race first and I think everyone knows how that turned out."
"With a country wide search after your driver showed up without you, you mean?" The reporter said rhetorically with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I feel bad about what Mack had to go through that week because of me. He felt so awful for losing me even though it was my fault. I had made Mack drive constantly, barely resting, to get to California, which I shouldn't have. Can you believe some people still think that was a planned publicity stunt? It wasn't.
So, there we were, middle of the night on the interstate Mack nodded off and somehow my trailer door opened while I was asleep. The next thing I know, there's people honking their horns at me and a semi driving right at me.
I drove out of the way but against traffic; by the time I had turned around there was no way I was going to find Mack, but I followed this truck who got off the interstate, until I caught up with him and realized it wasn't Mack. Then I sped away in the wrong direction. Best bad mistake ever.
I woke up the town Sheriff and mistook his backfiring as gun shots so I didn't slow down. Not slowing down, I got tangled in debris and ended up tearing a long crack into the main street, not really knowing what I was doing in a sleepy, adrenaline fueled fear, before passing out from being hung upside down."
"How did you get hung upside down?" The reporter asked in confused amazement.
"I don't exactly know except that it was some of the debris got caught in the telephone lines. The next morning, I woke up and found myself in Radiator Springs impound lot, one of the best things that happened in my life, not that I knew it at the time. I was taken to traffic court and met the very intimidating Judge, Doc Hudson. He wanted nothing to do with me, I was a race car and that was all he needed to know that I was bad news. He just wanted me gone until Sally the town's attorney arrived and made the town's people change Doc's mind and I got community service; I got to fix the road I wrecked.
At first, I tried to get it done in an hour; I only made it worst. I was told to scrap it off but I retorted something smart and disrespectful back. So, Doc offered to race me, he knew he wouldn't have to try hard because he figured I wouldn't be able to turn on dirt. So, if he won I fixed the road, if I won I got to leave and he'd fix the road. I ended up in the cactus patch; went into the tulips as Doc would say, so I got to tear up the road and repave it.
At this point I stopped trying to run, though the whole town knew how little I wanted to be there. By the time I finished the road I had learned a lot about this small town and I had gained respect for them; went tractor tipping with my new best friend and stumbled onto the fact that grumpy old Doc was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. A fact that Doc had kept hidden from everyone in town.
Once I had finished the road, I helped fixed the town's neon and was the town's first real customer in years. That's why I was painted like that and had white wall tires on. I had fallen in love with the town and its people.
Doc had phoned the press to git rid of me, it didn't really work out that well for him though. The town had already won me over and I them. The beginning of that race was a mess for me. I was distracted thinking of Radiator Springs and how I didn't get to say any good-byes for at least some closure before I was whisked off. Consequently, there I was my head completely out of the game with only Mack filling in as my pit crew; my driver, the impromptu pit crew. Then Doc and almost everyone from town was there; my racing greatly improved, I even used a couple of tricks I learned there. One from Mater, the backwards driving and drifting from Doc, which gave me the lead. When the King crashed I had to stop. When the crowd went quiet, I saw him on the screen, he looked so much like the picture of Doc's crash, I couldn't let him go out like that. I did what felt right and that was to let the King finish his last race. I decided by the end that Rust-eze wasn't that bad.
What only a few people knew then was that Mr. Tex offered me the Dinoco sponsorship for the first time then because there's more to racing than just winning. The rookies should pay attention to that. Mr. Tex over the next few years kept offering but I kept declining, it wouldn't have been fair to poor old Cal if I had." Lightning joked with a wink.
"Alright so that airs out your rookie year disappearance. If you had to simplify all that, how would you?"
"I got lost, wrecked a road, fix the road, found a dusty old racing legend, found a family, started making a change from an arrogant rookie to one a little less, picked up some tricks, and then purposefully lost a race. That is about the best I could simplify that."
"Not bad, one sentence. Subsequently, how does all that, relate to your last-minute race and consequent switch out with Ms. Ramirez?"
"It, along with thoughts of Doc is why I wanted to train where Doc raced. Go back to the roots of really. We started out on the beach where Doc had his crash. That ended up with me teaching Cruz how to race on sand so she could keep up with me and track my speed. We then went to Thunder Hollow, which wasn't exactly what I thought it was anymore. I didn't realize it had been turned into a crazy 8's course but it was still good training. I was embarrassed with being caught there, but it sure made the residents day after my mud was washed off. Then after an argument which was due to my temper in addition to being frustrated and upset with myself that Cruz won; we had a heart to heart and went to Thomasville. Particularly the Thomasville track; Doc's home track, in hopes to see Smokey Doc's old crew chief.
Which we did. He gave the both of us more than I could have hoped for. First, we went for a drink and had the chance to meet some other real racing legends who had raced with Doc; Louise 'Barnstormer' Nash, Junior 'Midnight' Moon, and River Scott. They told me how Doc bragged about me in his letters he sent them and how those letters only started coming to them after Doc became my crew chief.
Me, the hot-shot rookie race car who he didn't want anything to do with because he didn't want anything to do with the racing world. I pulled him out of his disheartened world and gave him some of the happiest years of his life; all from mentoring me and letting go of his past. Now I get the joy of mentoring Cruz. So, not only did Smokey with help from the others train us hard but subconsciously put the thought of mentoring in my mind. If it wasn't for Cruz and I training together we wouldn't work together overly well. To sum it up if it wasn't for my unplanned detour to Radiator Springs I probability wouldn't be here."
"Why do you think you wouldn't be here if not Radiator Springs?" Asked the reporter sounding more alarmed then she meant too. She quickly followed with another question to cover their alarm "Where do you think you'd be?"
"Oh, I don't think I'd be dead if that's what you're thinking." Lightning replied with a chuckle. "More like I would never have made it this far. If I made the tie-breaker race when Mack showed up, the whole race I think while still a big deal wouldn't have made me like it did. I would have had no crew so if anything went wrong like my flat I would have been done. Even if I did win I don't know if Mr. Tex would have offered me his sponsorship or not but if he did I would have excepted. But either way I think I would have only lasted a season or two more. I would still have been an arrogant, cocky, know-it-all type of racer. I wouldn't have stopped to help The King that's for sure. I might have lasted a bit longer if Mr. Tex would give me a dressing down with an ultimatum, but I think I would have faded into being an unknown, because of my, at the time disrespect and unwillingness to work with people. It would have been my down fall. I learned a lot that week in Radiator Springs."
"Now that we've gone off track from talking about Ms. Ramirez, let's go back to her. What do you think of her choice to take the Dinoco sponsorship?"
"That was the best option for her honestly, Mr. Sterling wouldn't have done right by her. I do believe he is a big fan of racing but is a little too business minded to be the right sort to support a racer's needs. I have no ill will against Mr. Sterling and I think he tried his best, but you have to give everyone a chance if they want to try."
"Even though Ms. Ramirez has taken the Dinoco sponsorship, do you plan to continue to mentor her and be her crew Chief? Also, how would that work? The racing world knows how loyal you are to your sponsor."
"I do plan on continuing to be Cruz's crew chief and subsequently her mentor. I'm pretty sure Mr. Tex won't fight me on it since he has wanted to work with me for years now. I think he's even already working on a plan so I can't get out of it this time. I can't say anything more about that though."
"Alright, now before we completely wind down our interview we have two more questions to ask for you. One that everyone wants to know is your thoughts on Jackson Storm and do you have any advice for the rookies?"
"Thoughts on Jackson Storm? Well, he reminds me of myself my rookie year, as we've talked about, I think he needs to learn he's not necessarily the best thing that's happened to racing. I sure wasn't, though I did act like it that first year. He does have one thing in his favour, he didn't pull a McQueen as they call it firing three crew chiefs in a single season. Like I said earlier, Storm at least seems to respect his crew. He could show more respect for his other racers off the track, but then there is always trash talk off and on the track. I called Chick Hicks, Thunder, once and he ran with it so, that is what it is. I guess my best advice would be sometimes you need to slow down and just take a drive that's not in the fast lane, learn from the past so you don't repeat mistakes. Also, don't be smart mouthing everyone you meet, you never know who they could be. Like a retired old race car hiding from his past."
"Another thing you learned from Radiator Springs?" She gave him a pointed look.
"Hey, I said Radiator Springs taught me a lot, I meant it. Those cars in that town made me who I am today." He replied raising a tire in defence.
"Well thank-you Mr. McQueen for speaking with us today."
"Thank-you for having me and putting up with my rambling, I've been rather nostalgic since my crash. It was a real pleasure talking with you."
"It was our pleasure Mr. McQueen."
A couple of other notes real quick here. I think this takes place before it's announced that Tex purchased Rust-eze and before Lightning has his new paint job but not right after the race either. Also, I think the fact that Tex has offered Lightning the Dinoco sponsorship multiple times over the years and Lightning rejecting him would be pretty common knowledge but not the first time because of all the drama of that race. I know I likely shouldn't have posted this without really knowing who the reporter is and the circumstances about the interview but it feels ready to share at this point. So, the reporter can be whoever you want it to be.