It was late at night as a still-disguised Mack trundled down the highway, his trailer's cargo consisting of Lightning McQueen, Lightning's trainer Cruz Ramirez and Guido and Luigi, the latter two being part of Lightning's pit crew. Closely following Mack just a couple of car lengths behind was none other than Doc Hudson, Lightning's mentor and crew chief. They were all headed to Thomasville, Georgia after the nearly disastrous demolition derby back at Thunder Hollow, which Cruz just so happened to win, by the way.

As much as Doc loved dirt racing, he hated seeing cars crash into each other, accidentally or otherwise. Tonight he'd been forced to watch the entire race from his hiding spot behind some trees away from the crowd as he didn't want to risk blowing everyone's cover. Of course, that didn't matter in the end when that water truck tipped over giving Lightning a free car wash. If anything, that race could very well have resulted in both Lightning and Cruz getting seriously hurt, perhaps even worse. And that Miss Fritter woman! Boy, was she a homicidal maniac!

In an attempt to distract himself from thinking about those things, he turned on his two-way radio which shared the same frequency as the one in the trailer and was about to speak into it when he heard a female voice coming from the other end.

"So...trophy's kinda nice. Don't you think?"

It was Cruz. He decided to keep quiet and just listen in.

"I mean, I know you and Doc got, like, a billion of them, so you would know."

Doc chuckled inwardly at that.

"I still can't believe I won. It's pretty shiny. I have never seen one up close. Looks like they spent a lot of money on it. I mean, I think it's real metal."

"Stop.", another voice interrupted.

It was Lightning.

"Uh oh.", Doc thought worryingly, "This ain't gonna be good."

It most definitely wasn't.

"Just stop. Okay, Cruz? You know don't even know, you don't even have one clue!"

"Hey, I was just trying to-!", Cruz interjected, trying to get her idol to listen, but he was having none of it and continued his rant.

"Do you know what happens if I lose this race? Every mile of this trip was to get me faster than Jackson Storm. Faster! I start off getting nowhere for a week on a simulator, I lose a whole day with you on Fireball Beach, and then I waste tonight in the crosshairs of Miss Fritter! I'm stuck at the same speed I was a month ago! I can't get any faster because I'm too busy taking care of my trainer!"

"Totally off his rocker now.", Doc mouthed.

"This is my last chance, Cruz! Last! Final! Finito! If I lose, I never get to do this again! If you were a racer, you'd know what I'm talking about, but you're not! So you don't!"

Doc heard a loud thump, then the sound of something falling over and breaking and someone letting out a barely audible gasp. In the moment of silence that had followed, Doc tried to say something to try to intervene before it got any uglier. However, before he could get the chance, Cruz called out to Mack.

"Mack, pull over!"

"What? Now?", a bewildered Mack asked.

"Now!", affirmed Cruz as a click was heard.

Doc saw the rear door of the trailer open up and make contact with the pavement, sending sparks flying which he had to dodge by swerving.

"Whoa!"

"Ah!", Mack screamed, "Okay! Okay! Pulling over! Pulling over!"

The big rig quickly moved over to the shoulder and quickly came to a stop. Cruz angrily reversed down the ramp and exited the trailer, forcing Doc to get out of her way so he wouldn't get hit by her. Doc could practically see the aura of fury radiating from Cruz, so he tried to calm her down.

"Cruz, you alri-?"

"SHUT UP!", she roared, "Just...shut up!"

Doc backed up a little and raised his eyelids in surprise at first, but he quickly settled down and just nodded while maintaining a neutral expression. He knew better than to take it personally and aggravate her even further since it was just her emotions taking over.

Mack had turned around to get a better view of what was going on, the truck's own expression being one of concern and sadness. Meanwhile, Lightning had driven up to the entrance of the trailer, with Guido and Luigi following close behind him and peeking out from behind his rear bumper, their eyes full of worry.

After another moment of silence, Cruz finally spoke up at Lightning.

"Ask me if I dreamed of being a trainer, Mr. McQueen! Go ahead! Ask me if I got up in the dark to run laps before school every day! Ask me if I saved every penny to buy a ticket to the races when they came to town! Ask me if I did that so that I could be a trainer someday! Ask me!"

Doc turned his eyes away from Cruz and over to Lightning.

"Did y-?"

"NO!"

Doc looked back at Cruz.

"I've wanted to become a racer forever! Because of you!"

Lightning was quite taken aback by this, raising his body a little and gasping at this new revelation. Doc, on the other tire, didn't seem as shocked. He'd pretty much figured it all out when they first met Cruz back at the racing center when she said to Lightning that she grew up watching him on TV.

And speaking of TV, Cruz continued talking as she reversed and turned to face away from Lightning.

"I used to watch you on TV...flying through the air.", she reminisced, "You seemed so...fearless."

Lightning exited the trailer, driving onto the ground.

"Dream small, Cruz. That's what my family used to say: Dream small, or not at all."

Doc felt his engine sink at what he was hearing. "Chrysler. Were her parents really that unsupportive of their own daughter?", he wondered.

"They were just trying to protect me."

"Or just being crabs in a bucket.", Doc theorized mentally.

"But I was the fastest kid in town, and I was gonna prove them wrong."

"What happened?", asked Lightning calmly.

"When I got to my first race...", Cruz continued, "I figured it out."

"And what was that?", Doc inquired.

Cruz turned to face him first, then back at Lightning.

"That I didn't belong.", she ultimately admitted.

Sensing the sheer sincerity she said that with, Doc felt his engine sink even lower.

"The other racers looked nothing like me. You know, th-they were bigger, and stronger and so…confident. And when they started their engines...that was it. I knew I'd never be a racer."

Cruz looked down at the ground as Lightning pursed his lips in guilt at the sight of her sorrow-filled eyes.

"I just left. It was my one shot, and I didn't take it."

That last sentence finally did it for Doc. This time his engine felt like it had shattered into a million pieces as he recalled the words he said to Lightning all those years ago.

"There was a lot left in me. I never got a chance to show them."

"I'm so sorry, Cruz.", Doc said to her, barely above a whisper.

Lightning felt sorry for all as well, but he could only look down in shame and say nothing.

After another moment of silence, Cruz broke it.

"Yeah, so, uh..I-I'm gonna head back to the training center. I think we all know it's for the best."

She turned around to drive off, but before doing so she turned back around to look at Lightning.

"But can I ask you something?"

Lightning looked back up at her.

"What was it like for you...when you showed up to your first race? How did you know you could do it?"

Lightning looked for the words to make his reply with.

"I don't know, I...I just never thought I couldn't." he answered with complete honesty.

"I wish I knew what that felt like.", lamented Cruz, "Good luck, Mr. McQueen."

As much as Doc wanted to stop her from leaving, he knew it would be a fool's errand, so he simply put a tire on her fender.

Cruz gave him a sad, guilt-filled smile.

"I'm sorry I told you to shut up like that. I was totally out of line."

Doc shook his hood. "No apologies necessary, Cruz. We all have our breaking point."

He took his tire off Cruz's fender, finally letting her drive away, but not before she said to him, "Me recuerdas a mi abuelo."

And with that, she put herself into gear and set off into the night.

"Cruz...", Lightning drove forward a little and called out to her, obviously not wanting her to leave.

"Cruz, wait."

But it was futile. The sound of her engine and the distance between her and them served to drown out his pleas. Finally admitting defeat, Lightning sighed and let his body sink on his suspension. He and Doc could only watch as her taillights grew smaller and dimmer before finally disappearing when she rounded a bend.

Now that it was all over with, Doc turned around to face Lightning, who by now was feeling even more ashamed of what he'd just done.

"I really screwed up this time, didn't I?

"Yeah. Royally."

Lightning sighed again, then asked, "What did she say to you? Something about her grandfather?"

"She said I remind her of him. I took that as a compliment."

Lightning nodded. "She told me she and her grandfather were very close, even showed me some family photos of her with him. And how do you know Spanish so well?"

"Ramone taught me, dummy."

Lightning rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right, of course.", he grumbled.

He put himself in reverse and backed up so Doc could get inside the trailer with him. Doc pressed the switch next to him to close the door. That was when he saw the remains of Cruz's trophy, which had broken in two.

"Oh, dear.", he muttered.

"I didn't mean to, Doc. I swear.", Lightning told him with regret.

Doc nodded. "I know, kid. I know."

Doc didn't care that much for trophies himself, but this one really meant a lot to Cruz and he wanted to get it fixed right away.

"Guido?", he called out.

Guido popped up behind Lightning.

"Si signore?"

"Move, hot rod.", he ordered Lightning.

Lightning did so, and Doc pushed the pieces of the trophy with a tire, sliding them across the floor over to Guido, who caught them and picked them up.

"Guido, look for something in the toolbox that'll put 'em back together."

"Si signore.", obeyed Guido and he headed to the tool room.

Doc turned his attention back to Lightning. "You know, kid, Cruz reminds me of someone else."

"And who's that?"

"Lou."

"Really? How so?"

So Doc explained.

"Well, like Cruz, Lou had to put up with a bunch of sexism back in the day. I should know because I was there to see it all. Misogynistic insults, catcalling, sexual harassment, the whole nine yards. You name it, she got it hurled at her. It was so fucking disgusting and pissed me off to no end."

Doc almost never cursed, so this made Lightning's eyes go wide. He could almost feel the the barely restrained rage seething through Doc's teeth.

"Chrysler...", Lightning winced, "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. I've never told anyone this before, but I feel like I abandoned her when I decided to leave the racing world and disappear to Radiator Springs after recovering from my crash. Sure, she still had River, Junior, Smokey and Sweet Tea to look out for her, but I still shouldn't have just left like that. At least, not without some kind of explanation. I may not have been into her romantically, but that doesn't mean I didn't care about her. And you know what I've just realized from what Cruz just said about not taking that one shot?"

"What?"

Doc paused for a second before continuing.

"That the only thing more tragic than one's racing career being cut short by a crash is it being stamped out before it even has the chance to take root and grow, let alone blossom."

Deep down, Lightning knew Doc was right. Lou may have been able to get past the extra unfair hurdles that had been set up for her, but Cruz still hadn't, and that didn't sit right with him and Doc at all.

While Lightning was letting Doc's words sink in, Guido came back to them holding the freshly fixed trophy up in the air. Doc saw that it been crudely put back together with electrical tape.

"I thought we had some super glue in that toolbox.", complained Doc, obviously dissatisfied with the shoddy work.

"We found a tube, but it's empty.", Luigi who was next to Guido, explained.

"Ah, I see. We'll get some more at the next gas station."

"Si signore." Guido set the trophy down on the floor, and he and Luigi retreated back to their room.

Lightning looked down sadly at the trophy.

"Think we should go find Cruz and ask her to come back?"

Doc sighed. "I dunno, kid. Don't get me wrong, I've really warmed up to that girl in the short time we've gotten to know her, but she really needs her space right now."

Lightning nodded in agreement. "Then we'll wait until daybreak."

"Good idea."


Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I know Doc dropping an f-bomb is totally out of character for him, but I felt it was the only way for him to talk about such unsavory topics and call them out for what they actually are. This fic was inspired by my own personal friendship with a professional female athlete whom I've known for several years. I won't name names for the sake of anonymity, but what I can say about her is that she's been involved in motorsports for decades. Awesome gal. Therefore, this fic is dedicated to her and all other female athletes out there. And yes, that includes trans athletes as well.