Chapter 6. - Disastrous Race -
On Sunday, race day: As always, Lightning woke up early. He stretched and rolled out of his trailer. Every muscle was stiff and sore. It was a good thing that he slept in the trailer last night… alone. Sally spent the night in her hotel room. They knew they wouldn't be able to keep their tires off each other if they spent the night together. Something that was proven every time they went back to Sally's room. Lightning wasn't complaining, he and Sally had so much sex, they forgotten how many times they 'did it'. Even his manhood was sore. Lightning felt a little guilty about breaking Doc's 'no sex during the racing season' rule. All week, he stuck to Doc's training schedule, so why not have some fun while Sally was here. Feeling a little lonely, Lightning drove to the track buffet for breakfast. The race did not start until one, so Sally would be here in a few hours. Lightning got his usual breakfast and settled at a table by himself. As he ate, Lightning saw Chick eating breakfast across the dining room, by himself as well. After he finished eating, Lightning drove out to the track for a quick training session and to loosen up those stiff muscles. After a few laps, Lightning found a groove that he thought would work for him. After his workout, Lightning's axle was throbbing painfully. This worried him, because he had not put any strain on it. Lightning drove off the track and headed back to his trailer. Once there, he got an icepack out of Doc's trailer and wrapped it around his sore axle. His axle throbbed so intensely, Lightning thought maybe they did something to it.
Two hours later: Sally arrived at Lightning's trailer. "Good morning." she greeted cheerfully "Are you ready to race?"
"I think so." Lightning said, shifting on his ice pack "I'm just a little sore, that's all." He winced in pain.
"Are you telling me the truth?" Sally asked "Is it your axle?"
"A little." Lightning admitted "It's not bad though. I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about."
"You know that's not going to happen." Sally said "Should you be racing today?"
"Of course I should!" Lightning said, surprised Sally would even think about that "There's no reason for me to scratch!"
"Yes, there is. If your axle is hurting, you shouldn't be racing." Sally said "If you break it again, you'll be out for the rest of the season! Which means no Piston Cup."
"Sally, please." Lightning said quietly "Sweetheart, don't do this to me, please."
"Well, okay." Sally sighed "I'm just uncomfortable with you racing if your axle is acting up."
"You can help me put my brace on." Lightning said "I can't put it on myself. Doc usually helps me."
"I can do that." Sally said, still looking apprehensive but her expression softened "I just don't want you getting hurt again."
"I know you don't." Lightning said, giving her a sideways glance "You don't like me racing, do you?"
"It's not that I don't like you racing." Sally said slowly "It's just… I can hardly watch you race without feeling sick. Your wreck replays over and over in my head."
Lightning didn't know what to say, but there was no need. Sally hugged him. Lightning felt her shudder slightly and heard her sniff. "Hey." he said quietly "It's okay. Don't fall apart on me before I can get out on the track."
"I'll try." Sally said softly "Sorry, I turn wimpy when I'm scared."
"Everybody does." Lightning said, grinning "Except for me, I get mean and become an asshole. *Sally gave a watery laugh.* I'll be fine. But if you don't want to be my crew chief, I'm sure I can find someone else."
"I'll do it." Sally said "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."
"I promise." Lightning said "I'm sure you'll do a great job."
Several hours later: Lightning was settled in the starting grid. He qualified second after Sapphire. "Test one, two." Lightning said through his communication system "Can you hear me?"
"I hear you loud and clear." Sally responded "Are you ready?"
"More than ready." Lightning said "Let's do it."
"Do what?" Sally asked "What do you want me to say?"
"You know." Lightning responded "Do the saying."
Sally looked at the pit crew. They were busy so she just sat and thought about it. "Uhh… I want your hot pulsing cock in me right now." Sally said bashfully "And I want to ride it all night long."
Sapphire's crew chief Victoria, heard Sally and repeated everything to Sapphire. "WOW! I guess you're right, you're horny all the time." Sapphire said playfully as she turned towards Lightning "I have a question though, how the hell do you race with a boner?... Hey! Victoria! Can you order me a strap on before the next race? I think we just figured out the McQueen secret for winning races!"
Of course, that comment got all the other racecars attention, so Sapphire repeated everything. All the cars around Lightning laughed except for Chick. He thought Sapphire was being serious. Sally's entire front half turned a bright red and she started backing off the crew chief platform.
"Sally you're fine." Victoria said as she quickly got off her stand "We're just giving Lightning a hard time… It's payback for the pranks he pulled on us. You're probably not used to this, but this is pretty normal. Come on get back up there! *she gestured to the crew chief platform.* The race is about to start and Lightning needs you. If you need any help Angie, *gestures to the other female crew chief on the other side.* or I can help."
"Victoria's right, these types of shenanigans go on all the time." Lightning said "The saying is what Doc and I use before every race. It's like a good luck charm."
"Oh! Yeah, that saying." Sally said climbing back onto the crew chief platform "Uh, float like a Cadillac…"
"…And sting like a Beamer!" Lightning said "I'm ready, let's do this!"
Once everything was ready, Charlie Checker led the cars to the track for warm up laps. Once the warm up was completed, Dexter waved the green flag and Lightning shot out into first place. A couple of laps later: He allowed Chick to pass him so he could draft, allowing Lightning to save his energy for later in the race.
"Is everything clear behind me?" Lightning asked "I don't want anyone sneaking up behind me."
"Uh, yes." Sally said "There's a big gap before the next pack of cars."
"Who's in third?" Lightning asked "And how close is he to me?"
"Sapphire is in third." Sally said "She's a quarter of the track behind you."
"Thanks." Lightning said "You're doing a good job, keep it up."
"Thanks." Sally said "I'm supposed to tell you about caution flags?" "Yeah." Lightning said "And anything else that happens."
An hour and a half later: Because this was a superspeedway, three cars could easily fit side-by-side in the straightaways. The two rookies, Brick and Bobby were getting bored, so they started to play around. They were going down the backstretch three wide when Brick thought it would be funny to push Bobby. They were on the high side of the track close to the wall. Brick made contact with Bobby's rear and started pushing him. Bobby enjoyed it until Brick pushed him into the tire marbles laying near the top of the track. Unable to get out of the way, Bobby rolled over them and lost control. He slid sideways across the track. Somehow, the force of airflow around his body flipped Bobby into the air. Miraculously, he did a 360° flip before landing back on his tires. However cars behind him crashed as they scrambled to get out of the way. The track was littered with debris.
"Holey cow did you see that? Are you okay?" Sally asked "A caution flag is up."
"Yes I did. I was able to get through it and not hit anybody in the process." Lightning said, swerving to avoid a piece of debris "It'll take the grounds crew a few laps to clean up that mess. I'm coming in for a pit."
Lightning didn't see the piece of metal lying on the track and he drove over it. He felt a sharp pain in his bad axle. Lightning thought that it was complaining about him swerving. It didn't cross his mind that he had been cut because the pain quickly went away. An hour later: Lightning was heading into the final five laps of the race. He was in first, but Chick was coming up fast.
"Just a heads up." Sally reported "Chick's coming up on the inside." Lightning drifted to the inside and sped up. Suddenly, Chick sped past Lightning on the outside.
"See ya later, McQueen!" he cackled "You're nothing without the old man."
"Sally!" Lightning barked "Tell me when he switches sides like that!"
"Sorry, I thought you knew." Sally said obviously bothered by her mistake "I think you have time to catch him."
Lightning floored his engine. For four laps, the cars dueled. When they crossed the finish line, Chick was first. "Ugh!" Lightning groaned "No!"
Later: Lightning gratefully accepted his second-place prize and drove slowly back to his trailer. He saw Bobby talking to Kori and they were watching a replay of his flip.
"I'm here with former off-road champion and piston cup rookie Bobby Swift. Thankfully, you have a smile on your face." She said facing the camera "How close were you to picking up your first win today?"
"In off-road we flip a lot… the easiest way is to land is upside down, nothing hits hard." Bobby said before watching a replay "Oh here we go. I really don't know what happened, all I know is Brick started pushing the crap out of me and was I loving it. I was leading the race for a split second. *Watched himself flip.* I stuck the landing, the Russian judge docked me a few points because I couldn't land straight. I want to thank everybody on my team, we had a good race today. It was awesome… Mother, it's okay. It's just a flip. It didn't hurt. I promise!"
Lightning arrived back at his trailer and started packing his things. Suddenly his phone started ringing. "Hello Doc?" he asked "Now what do you want?"
"What happened out there?" Doc's voice asked "You should have won that race."
"I don't know and I'm not going to worry about it." Lightning said glumly "I just didn't see Chick coming up on the outside."
"Why not?" Doc asked "I saw him coming and I wasn't even there."
"Because Sally told me he was coming up on the inside." Lightning said. "Not the outside."
"Mhmmm." Doc said "That's what happens when you use an inexperienced crew chief."
"What's fuck that supposed to mean?" Lightning asked angrily "She did great for not being a professional. I would have won the race, if you didn't decide to take off."
"Whatever." Doc said gruffly "I'll meet you in Philly day after tomorrow."
"Fine." Lightning said edgily "I'll see you in a few days… That's if you don't decide to take more time off."
"I'll be there." Doc grumbled "Just get yourself and the rest of the fucking team there."
After Lightning hung up the phone: Lightning took his brace off and was startled to see it was soaked in oil. "Whoa!" Sally said driving up. "What's that from?"
"Probably my axle." Lightning said driving up the trailer's ramp "I'm fine, It's not uncommon for the brace to rub a sore spot. I'll have Doc look at it when I get to Philadelphia." Lightning removed the oil soaked lining and put the brace away.
"I don't think you're fine." Sally said "I think you need to have it attended to!"
"Why?" Lightning asked "It's not that bad."
"Yes it is." Sally said, fear dripping from her voice "Look behind you."
When Lightning looked, he saw a trail of oil glistening behind him. Only then did Lightning notice he was bleeding, not bad, but enough to scare him and Sally. "Toss me that towel." Lightning said "I'll wrap that around my axle. Hopefully, it'll stop the bleeding."
Sally got the towel and helped Lightning wrap his axle tightly. "How do you not know your axle was bleeding!" Sally said "It looks painful."
"Due to the scarring, I don't have a lot of feeling in it." Lightning said "Besides, all racecars have a condition known as a 'performance high'. It happens when we get injured, but endorphins and the body's natural painkillers kick in and we don't feel it until we're off the track."
"I think I understand." Sally said "It's like when you hurt yourself, but you don't feel it until the next day."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." Lightning said "Once we get the bleeding to slow down, we can head to the medical clinic. It should be open for another hour or so."
Once they had the bleeding almost stopped, Lightning and Sally drove to the clinic and asked to see a doctor. "It needs a few staples." The doctor said thirty minutes later "You should have come in earlier."
"I didn't notice it until I took my brace off." Lightning asked "Do you know what caused it?"
"From the big accident, there was a lot of debris out there." the doctor said "You're lucky you were wearing your brace. If you hadn't been, it's likely it would have sliced your axle in two."
"Is there any swelling down there?" he asked "It's really getting painful."
"There is some." the doctor said "But considering your wreck last season, it looks good."
Forty five minutes later: The track doctor finished treating Lightning. He put four staples in Lightning's axle. "Keep the wound clean and dry. I recommend ice for pain and swelling. The bandages can come off in a couple of days. The staples can come out after your next race." The doctor said "Have your team's physician examine it if there is any discharge, redness, or excessive swelling in or around the wound."
"Thanks Doc." Lightning said "Can I race next Sunday?"
"I think you can." The doctor answered "But, that's between you, your crew chief, and physician. I recommend that you don't train hard, you could easily rip out your staples."
"Okay." Lightning said "Thank you."
"You're welcome." the doctor replied "I'll have the nurse get your release instructions. Once she's done that, you're free to go."
Lightning drove out of the treatment area. His axle was incredibly sore and tender. "Are you okay?" Sally asked "What did the doctor say?"
"I must have driven over a piece of debris or something." Lightning said "It split my axle open. He put four staples in my axle that get taken out in a week." Sally nodded.
"I'm sorry I wasn't a good crew chief." she said "You got hurt because of me."
"You did great for your first time." Lightning said before hugging her "It takes practice and experience to see everything you need to see out there."
"Well next time Mack should do it." Sally said sadly "I guess racing just isn't for me. My flight leaves in a couple hours. I'd better get to the airport. It's the last one, so I don't want to miss it."
Lightning kissed Sally passionately, ignoring the paparazzi around him and Sally, snapping pictures of them. Lightning watched his fiancé drive away and then finished packing his equipment. Later: "Are you guys ready to go?" Lightning asked "I want to get on the road."
"Yeah, Boss." Mack called out "We're ready whenever you are." Lightning drove around the camp one last time to make sure he had everything packed up. Lightning yawned hugely as he backed up the ramp and closed the door.
Hours later, 1 a.m.: Lightning woke up as the three haulers were pulling into a truck stop. He groaned painfully when he tried to move around. "Are you guys stopping for the night?" Lightning asked as he hit the intercom "Do you think I can get out and drive around for a few minutes? I need to stretch."
"Yes we are. We have reserved spots towards the back of the parking lot, should be really easy to get to sleep." Mack responded "As soon as we get parked, you can get out."
The lot attendant led the three haulers to their spots and he removed the reserved signs. Lightning groaned painfully as the trailer jerked to a stop. He waited until the other two haulers were parked before he lowered the ramp. Lightning drove around to where the haulers were getting settled.
"The diner is open all night if you get hungry." Abby said "For being truck stop food, it's not half bad. I wouldn't recommend getting anything that's deep-fried. It's very greasy. If Jeff is the cook, I usually get the Beef Manhattan."
"Thanks Abby. I'm not hungry right now." Lightning said before he winced painfully "I just need to drive around a little bit. I'm really stiff and sore."
"Is your axle?" Mack asked sympathetically "Maybe stretching it will help it feel better."
"I can't really stretch my axle like I would love to." Lightning said, uncomfortably shifting. "I'm afraid I'll rip the staples out."
"Oh, I see your problem." Mack said, nodding wisely "And not having Doc with us… That would be a bad thing." Lightning did a couple of slow laps around the truck stop, being careful not to wake the sleeping semis.
"It always amazes me how you guys sleep out here in the open." Lightning said as he drove back to Mack "How do you guys do it?"
"I don't know." Mack responded sleepily "We just do. Personally, I love sleeping outside, unless it's raining."
"I'm heading to the trailer." Lightning said yawing "I'll see you in the morning." Lightning limped to the trailer and settled down for the night.
COMMENTS:
Guest 2: Oh dear! Sally got a bit too rough but at least she soothed Lightning with pure pleasure to make up and keep the fun buzzing.- You know what happens when you get carried away with something. We all know how physically strong Lightning is, but I wanted to show that Sally isn't a weakling, she's a Porsche after all. Sally can and does dominate Lightning in some situations and he has learned not to stand in her way.
Doc's gonna kill Lightning but then it's not as if it was before a race.- If your read the original story, Doc doesn't find out that Sally is pregnant until the end of the story. In this story, I haven't made up my mind if he finds out sooner.
Lightning should scold Doc at some point here as clearly Lightning is the main boss of his team. Lightning can fire his crew chief but we all know he won't fire Doc. Doc does a lot for him being his doctor as well as his crew chief.- I thought about that but decided against it. Both Doc and Lightning said things they shouldn't in the heat of the moment. Doc and Lightning have some sort of understanding between them, and they aren't afraid to speak their minds.
The media do pester a lot but then it's good they hear what the racer himself has to say. Brick Yardley and Bobby Swift messed with the wrong woman there to get such a warning from Lightning.- Like Lightning said "they're bone headed rookies."
Nice of Darrell saving Lightning and Sally the trouble of finding a table. Must of felt thunderous with Lightning inside Bella. Guess Lightning gets his sexual enthusiasm from his Dad in a way.- That's what I was going for.
Brody must be an asshole all coz he doesn't like sharing his parents but Riley and Bella won't stand for it. How dare Brody slap Lightning as a baby and Annemarie! Such a twat!- I wanted the readers to understand that Brody hated Lightning from the moment of his birth.
I hope Merida breaks Brody again. I'd like Lightning to break Brody for being an abusive, greedy twat. I know babies are hard work but it's all experience. Keep up the story- Thanks, I'll try. With it getting Christmas time, it's getting harder to find time to work on it.
Please make a part where Merida hood butts Brody to make him do one before she breaks his axle again as in 'do one before I castrate your balls' hood butts him and he disappears- I'll see what I can do.
I've thought of another idea. Could you do a flashback of Merida breaking Brody's axle? Little lesson to learn about Lightning's little sister- I have one more flashback planned for later in the story, so I was planning on something like that.
I do not own Cars or any of its characters. PIXAR AND DISNEY CLAIM THAT RIGHT. READING ENJOYMENT ONLY
Please read and review! I need criticism and encouragements! Rated M for language and sex.
