Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Pixar. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 6 – Racing Doc

Wednesday 19th February 2020 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Shortly after seven a.m., Tex drove up the ramp that led up to the small grandstand next to the half-mile dirt track oval that was part of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway complex. He heard Lighting's thunderous engine long before he even saw the racer tearing up the dirt. Terry and Tony were parked in the centre of the oval, along with a couple of Lightning's pitties. Upon seeing Doc, Bryan and Smokey parked in the otherwise empty stand off to his right, he drove over to them. Doc was wearing his headset at an angle, so he could talk to Bryan and Smokey while still being able to hear Lightning over the radio.

"Strip said I might find y'all here instead of in the main stadium," Tex said as he joined his employees.

"Morning Tex," Doc and Smokey replied in unison, while Bryan, who was thoroughly engrossed in Lightning's telemetry on the laptop on front of him, merely nodded in greeting.

Tex parked alongside Doc, and he watched Lightning racing around the short circuit for a moment before he spoke again.

"So, how's my twenty-million-dollar investment this mornin'?"

"According to his telemetry, he's right on track to perform well for Sunday's race," Bryan replied. "And with Jackson still recovering from his crash, I reckon Lightning will be the hot favourite to win come Sunday morning."

"Any reason why you've got 'im trainin' on dirt today instead of on the main track?" Tex asked.

"Yeah, and there's three of them," Doc replied without taking his eyes off his protégé. "The first is that we want to keep Lightning's training today out of the media spotlight. The second reason is because he was struggling a little with one of the turns during the short practice that he had on the track yesterday afternoon. And the third reason is because he's stressed out by the threats. Cal told me that Lightning didn't sleep very well last night."

"I see… Well, I've go' an update on that. Lightning's not the only one to have received threats against him. I was chattin' with some other team owners after I arrived at the hotel last night…"

"In the bar?" Smokey queried.

Tex chuckled. "Ya know me too well, Smokey. Anyway, it seems that some of the other prominent racers have received threats against them, includin' Jackson Storm."

"Guess that means we can rule him out of the list of suspects then," Doc mused thoughtfully. "Did you get my message about Lightning being called before the stewards tomorrow morning?"

"Yes… What's that all about?"

"Jackson is accusing Lightning of damaging his trailer following a prank with duct tape."

"Oh. Yes, I heard about that. Was Lightnin' actually involved?"

Doc remained silent for a few seconds. Then, he spoke to Lightning over the radio. "Kid, why are you backing off? Come on! Move your rear axle!"

"I'm tired, Doc!" Lightning complained. "Can't I stop now?"

"You've only done sixty-five laps," Doc retorted. "Just push through it. You can rest when I say you can."

Lightning shook his front slightly. He accelerated out of a corner, but it was obvious that his lack of sleep was catching up with him.

"Doc?" Tex pressed. "Did Lightnin' damage Jackson's trailer?"

Doc sighed. "All I know is that he was the ringleader of the prank. I believe that Cruz, Cal, and some of Lightning's other friends were also involved."

"I see…" Tex frowned thoughtfully. "What time is the hearing?"

"Nine."

"Guess I'd better be there for it, then. Is it just Lightnin' facin' the stewards?"

Doc nodded. "Jackson has only complained against Lightning. I'd like to see what evidence he has."

"Does he need evidence?" Smokey wondered.

Doc scoffed. "You can't accuse someone without evidence. That'll be my main defence tomorrow. If they can prove Lightning did it, we'll work out some sort of compensation. If not, then I'll try to get the charges dropped."

"Good thinking, Doc," Tex agreed. "It's up to the accusing party to produce evidence. Just make sure that none of us admits that we know the truth."

The four of them continued watching Lightning race around the small dirt track for a few more minutes in silence. Tex finally broke the silence.

"Is it just me, or is Lightning not really trying?"

"He has dropped off the pace a little," Bryan agreed. "Lack of sleep will do that to a racer…"

"Perhaps he needs a sparring partner to perk him up a bit?" Tex suggested. He glanced at Doc, who failed to notice the subtle hint.

"We could get Cruz over here to race him," Doc mussed, not taking his eyes off Lightning.

Smokey gave Doc a nudge. "He means you, Doc."

Startled, Doc looked at Tex. "Do you?"

Tex smirked and nodded. "I'd like to see you two spin a few laps together."

"You just wanna see me race," Doc retorted.

"Go on, Doc," Smokey urged. "Humour us."

Doc frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "All right then. Might be fun to burn a bit of rubber." He removed his headset and passed it over to Smokey. "You won't have radio contact with me, so you'll have to shout. We'll do twenty laps."

Tex and Smokey grinned as Doc drove away.

"Kid, it's Smokey," Smokey said to Lightning over the radio. "Doc's on his way down to race you."

"Why?" Lightning asked incredulously as he started to slow down.

"Tex wants to see you two race together. He thinks you're in need of a pacesetter."

Lightning rolled his eyes as he rolled to a stop on the track's infield. "Tell Tex that Doc isn't much of a challenge for me anymore. He's getting too-"

"Old?" Doc finished as he rolled up behind Lightning.

Lightning yelped and jumped, spinning around to face his mentor. "Doc! I didn't hear you coming."

"Obviously…" Doc said in a bored tone. "Come on, Hotrod. Tex reckons you're not trying hard enough, and he wants a bit of a show, so we'll humour him. We'll start from opposite sides of the track, with you behind me. You've got twenty laps to catch and overtake me, okay?"

"Sure, Doc," Lightning agreed. "But I won't need twenty laps!"

"We'll see…"

Lightning and Doc took up their starting positions. They revved their engines to signal that they were ready.

"GO!" Smokey shouted, forgetting that he had the radio mouthpiece right in front of his mouth.

Lightning winced as he accelerated. "Ouch! Smokey! You don't have to yell in my ears!"

"Sorry, kid," Smokey apologised. "Eyes forward."

Doc had taken advantage of Lightning's poor start and had already gained a quarter of a lap on him. Lightning gave himself a small shake to clear his ringing ears before he floored it, hard. Within a lap, he'd regained the distance he'd lost.

I'm coming for you, Doc, Lightning thought as he pushed himself as hard as he dared to on the dirt.

Clouds of dust blew up from the track as Lightning and Doc tore around it. Within five laps, Lightning had caught up to Doc and started drifting behind him. Unfortunately for Lightning, Doc knew all of his tricks and passing techniques, so he for several laps he was able to block Lightning easily.

Okay, Doc… Bite on this!

Lightning feigned going high before he quickly cut to the inside. His left tyres were just inches from the inside wall as he moved up alongside Doc. Doc was mildly surprised by the move, since he knew that Lightning hated passing on the inside. It's not that he couldn't do it; Lightning just preferred not to attempt inside overtakes. They raced side by side until the wall ended down the front straight. Seizing his opportunity, Doc slammed hard into Lightning's righthand side. Lightning pushed back equally as hard, refusing to yield.

"Good work, Kid," Doc growled, a smidgen of pride in his voice. "You were ready for me."

Lightning accelerated into the turn, cutting in front of Doc.

"Nice move, kid," Smokey praised. "Stay focussed. Doc's gonna try and get by you, so be ready to block 'im."

Lightning could feel Doc breathing down his righthand tailpipes, indicating the Doc was on his outside. As they entered turn three, Lightning instinctively kicked out his rear end as he counter-steered to make the turn. As a result, Lightning's right rear fender made contact with Doc's front left fender. The move sent the veteran racer into a spin towards the outside of the track. Luckily, Doc was experienced enough to correct the spin quickly, but not fast enough. When dust settled, Tex, Smokey and Bryan saw Doc parked in the infield, facing the wrong direction. Lightning was already half a lap ahead. Smokey chuckled as he lowered the headset microphone with his claw arm.

"I think the kid has finally outsmarted you, Doc!" Smokey shouted.

"Nonsense!" Doc spluttered. "He just got lucky!"

Doc tore back onto the track just ahead of Lightning, who'd been about to lap him.

"How does the dust taste, Doc?" Lightning taunted.

"Oh, you're gonna regret that, Kid!" Doc retorted.

Lightning just laughed again as he pulled up on Doc's outside. "Just remember, I've learnt from the best…"

And with that, Lightning used Doc's side draft to accelerate, leaving Doc behind in a cloud of dust.

…

About an hour later, Lightning returned to his hotel suite, followed by his security guards. He was already starting to forget that they were following him everywhere. Cal was already back from training, and so he was busy preparing breakfast for them with the TV on in the background. The news headlines were being shown, so Lightning paused in front of the TV to catch up on what was going on in the outside world.

"…and according to the WHO, the cases of Car-onavirus are increasing at an alarming rate, with seventy more vehicles aboard the Diamond Princess ship in Japan contracting the illness. Meanwhile, Taiwan has confirmed its first death from the virus…"

"Hey, Light?" Cal called. "I've made some breakfast for you as well. Come and take what you want."

Lightning drove over to the kitchenette. "Thanks! I'm starving after that practice session! What's all that stuff about a Car-onavirus?"

Knowing that Lightning rarely watched anything other than RSN, Cal explained. "It's a new, highly contagious virus that's come out of China. Apparently, it has already killed about two-hundred vehicles around the world. And it's spreading quickly."

"Let's hope it doesn't come here then."

Cal shook his front. "It's already here in the U.S., Light. Last I heard, there were thirteen reported cases here. I think they're mostly on the east coast though. Hopefully, none of them were at Daytona."

Lightning and Cal took their food, and they parked in front of the TV. Terry and Tony helped themselves to the leftovers.

"How did your training go?" Lightning asked Cal.

"It was okay. Turn four is giving us a bit of grief though. Uncle Strip told me that they resurfaced some of the tarmac there only about a week ago, and given the number of teams complaining about it, he doesn't think they did a very good job. He's gonna get some of the other officials to inspect it this afternoon."

"Good. I thought it felt a bit loose there when we were practicing yesterday. Let's hope they get it fixed properly before Sunday."

"If the stewards let you race. I did warn you not to prank Jackson."

Lightning waved his claw arm dismissively. "The worst they'll do is fine me. I didn't hurt anyone and besides, I'm not the first racer to prank another. We've been doing it to each other for years, remember? Jackson's just over-reacting, as usual. You know he can give it, but he can't take it. Shows just how pathetic he is. He needs to toughen up and stop whinging."

Cal didn't look convinced. "So, anyway, where did you end up this morning? I didn't see you on the track."

"Doc cleared it with Strip for me to have a closed training session on the dirt oval. He didn't want the media hanging around to distract me."

"Guess that explains why you're so dusty," Cal sniffed. "You'd better take a shower after breakfast."

"I was going to. Doc's fuming though because I ended up beating him in a sparring race."

Cal laughed despite himself. "I'd have loved to have seen that!"

Lightning grinned. "I think he's more angry with himself for allowing himself to get beaten. He's not used to it."

Having finished their breakfast, Lightning went to have his shower. Afterwards, he joined Cal back in the lounge. Cal had changed the TV channel over to RSN. Brett Mustangburger was just giving an update about Jackson Storm.

"The good news for fans is that Jackson Storm is scheduled to be released from hospital shortly. Team IGNTR has refused to specify his condition, but it's believed that the worst of the injuries he suffered is some kind of head trauma. Jackson's Crew Chief, Ray Reverham, has stated that while Jackson will be unable to race in the Los Vegas Five Hundred on Sunday, he will be at the track to support his replacement, a rookie from the X-finity Series, Andrew Goodwheel."

"Great!" Lightning muttered crossly. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to see him for at least a couple of weeks."

"Shh!" Cal shushed. "I'm trying to listen."

"It's understood that Jackson and the rest of his team will fly straight to Los Vegas later this evening," Brett continued. "On Monday, the team owner for Team IGNTR filed a formal complaint against Team Dinoco / Rust-eze, accusing Dinoco racer, Lightning McQueen, of committing wilful damage to Jackson Storm's trailer. So far, we are yet to receive any comment about the incident from Dinoco / Rust-eze's team owner, Tex Dinoco."

Lightning scoffed at the TV. "Like you guys really expected Tex to say anything? They can't even prove that I did it!"

"And how would you know?" Cal challenged. "Look, Light, I'm all for playing pranks on you and Bobby, and maybe even Cruz, but you need to just leave Jackson alone."

"Why should I?" Lightning shrugged. "He started it."

Cal groaned and rolled his eyes. He drove over to the bar fridge to grab a can of oil to drink. "One of these days, Jackson is gonna do something really nasty to you, and when that happens, don't come crying to me, because I'll just say, 'I told you so'."

"Oh, I can handle Jackson." Lightning glowered at the TV screen, which was now showing footage of Jackson emerging from the hospital he'd been staying in in Florida. "He's all talk and even that's nothing but hot air."

Cal returned to the TV with his drink. "Light, I'm saying this to you as your friend. Leave. Jackson. Alone."

Lightning sighed thoughtfully. "Just one more prank, Cal. I've got a real doozy in mind. I've just gotta wait for the pens to arrive in the mail."

"What pens?" Cal asked worriedly.

Lightning grinned. "Oh, you'll see! And hopefully, Jackson won't. Not for a while, anyway."

If Cal had the ability to facepalm himself, he'd have done so. "Monty!" Cal wailed in despair.

"If you think calling me by my real name is gonna change my mind, think again, Cal. Now, I don't wanna watch TV all day. Why don't we take a drive around L.A.? I wouldn't mind visiting the Neon Museum again. It's been a few years since I last went there."

"Well, okay," Cal agreed. "But promise you won't lose me on the way back to the hotel like you did in Virginia."

"Hey, I didn't lose you! I knew perfectly well where I was anyway."

"You nearly made Uncle Strip mobilize the FBI to find me," Cal grumbled.

Lightning shrugged. "Nobody mugged you though, did they? I still don't understand what all the fuss was about."

Cal let out a long sigh as he followed Lightning out of their hotel suite. Terry and Tony discreetly followed after them.