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

Chapter 5 – A Day to Remember

I was up early the following morning, because I was so excited to spend all day at Daytona Speedway with Uncle Alan. Had he been my real father, I probably would've pounce on him to wake him up. As it was, I anxiously paced the floor of my room until I heard Uncle Alan and Aunt Sarah leaving theirs.

"What time do we leave?" I asked as I burst out of my room. I nearly collided with my foster parents in the hallway.

"Good morning to your too, Monty," Aunt Sarah muttered sleepily.

Uncle Alan chuckled. "Don't mind her, Monty. Sarah's not herself until she's had her morning cup of coffee. We'll leave in an hour. Go and have a shower, and then join us downstairs for breakfast."

I spun around much too fast. CRASH!

Uncle Alan cringed when he saw me accidentally collide mouth-first with the bathroom doorframe. Then, he rolled his eyes and shook his front.

"You're going to be a tyre-full today, aren't you?"

I grinned sheepishly before I drove into the bathroom.

…

Just over an hour later, Uncle Alan and I left the house to head off to Daytona Speedway. Aunt Sarah had already left for her job at the health centre, so Uncle Alan locked the house. I did my best to contain my excitement as we headed downtown.

When we arrived, a security guard waved us through one of the entrance gates near turn one. I timidly followed Uncle Alan through the turn one tunnel just as a couple of racers rumbled along the racetrack overhead. The roar of their engines echoed all through the tunnel.

"Have the races started already?" I wondered.

"Not yet," Uncle Alan replied. "They're just practicing. The race doesn't start until later this afternoon."

I squinted as we re-emerged from the tunnel. The early morning sunlight hit me full in the eyes. Uncle Alan led the way over to the closest garages, where numerous teams were gathered. I followed him down the garages until we reached one near the end of the first row.

"Kyle?" Uncle Alan called from outside the garage.

My jaw nearly hit the ground when I saw none other than Kyle Petty emerge from the garage.

"Morning Alan," Kyle greeted him. "What can I do for you?" He gestured towards me. "Who's the kid?"

"This is my new foster son, Monty McQueen," Uncle Alan replied. "Since you're not racing today, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him while I'm working?"

"Of course! I'll be happy to do that for you. Come over here, kid. We'll take care of you. How old are you, Monty?"

"Fourteen," I whispered. I was still stunned to be parked directly in front of a real racing legend.

Seeing that I would be okay, Uncle Alan left us. Kyle began studying me, just like Uncle Alan had when we'd first met.

"You look like you could burn some rubber," Kyle remarked. "What's your top speed?"

"I'm not sure. My speedometer goes up to two hundred, but I've never gone that fast."

Kyle smirked. "Would you like to?"

My jaw dropped again. I was too stunned to speak. Kyle chuckled before he drove back inside the garage. I followed him.

"Hey, Mark?"

A 1981 BMW M1 decked out in Petty Enterprises livery drove over to us. "Yes, sir?"

"Mark, this is Monty," Kyle said, introducing us. "Monty, this is Mark. He was a foster kid with the Greenways too, so that makes you foster brothers."

"Nice to meet you, Monty. Is this your first time at the track?"

I nodded. Mark smiled kindly.

"Don't worry. I know this might be rather overwhelming to you now, but you'll get used to it. You see, Uncle Alan's method of helping foster kids is to get them involved in racing. It did me a heck of a lot of good though, I can tell you! If it wasn't for Uncle Alan and racing, I'd probably be in prison by now. I'm so grateful to Kyle for giving me a chance to work for him."

"One of the best decisions I've ever made," Kyle muttered. Then, he said in a louder voice, "What do you think Monty could be, Mark?"

Mark frowned thoughtfully as he studied me. "How old is he?"

"Fourteen."

"He's rather small for his age… But that could be an advantage in sprint racing."

Wait a minute? Sprint racing?

"Exactly what I'm thinking," Kyle said. "Kid, do you have any idea who your parents were?"

"No. I was abandoned as a baby."

"That sounds like something a racer would do. Why don't we fit him out with a tailfin and some slicks and see how he goes?"

"I'm on it!" Mark replied eagerly. He drove away towards the back of the garage.

"Isn't…there a race going on today?" I asked.

"That doesn't start until after lunch," Kyle explained. "The track is open to practice sessions all morning."

"Do…do you think that I could become a racer?"

Kyle smiled. "We'll see. I know talent when I see it. You have the right build to be a racer. I'll talk to Alan about doing a DNA test on you. See if we can find out if you have a racer as an ancestor."

"Ya coming, Monty?" Mark called.

Timidly, I drove towards the back of the garage. Mark held up a child-sized tailfin with his claw arm.

"This might be a little bit small for you, but it'll do for now. I'll just get a couple of the boys to bolt it onto you."

"Will it hurt?" I asked anxiously.

"Not really. You might find it a bit weird at first though. Just relax, kid. We know what we're doing."

Half an hour later, I was all kitted out and ready to go onto the racetrack for the very first time. Mark was just finishing installing a temporary radio system in my engine bay, when Kyle approached us.

"Is he ready to go, Mark?"

Mark gently closed my hood. "Yup! You know what? He's got a nice little V8 engine in there."

Kyle smiled. "Good. Because I've asked Jeff Green to be Monty's pacesetter. If he can keep up with Jeff…" Kyle let the sentence hang.

I gulped nervously. Jeff Green was a champion racer in the second tier series. While I'd never had the opportunity to watch him race, I'd read that he liked to race hard and fast.

"Follow me, kid," Kyle instructed.

I did so. As I followed Kyle over to pit row, it suddenly occurred to me that if Kyle was willing to pitch me against a racing champion for my very first time on a racetrack, he was either trying to dissuade me from racing, or he was trying to inspire me.

Jeff Green was already waiting for us by the time we arrived in the pits. This time, I managed to stop my jaw from hitting the ground. I seriously doubted that Jeff would go easy on me.

"Jeff, this is Monty," Kyle said, introducing us. "As I said to you earlier, I'd just like to see how much speed he has. Racing skills can be taught; speed cannot be taught, as you well know."

Jeff eyed me critically. "You say this kid has never raced before?"

"That's what he says. I'm just hoping that I may have found a potential rookie for next year's Junior Cup series."

"Well, I'm more than happy to give the kid a few laps. Are you ready to go, kid?"

"Yes, sir!" I replied enthusiastically.

Kyle pulled on a headset. "Radio check. Can you hear me, Monty?"

"Yes," I replied. The radio's speakers were mounted in the far corners of my engine bay, right near the hinges, so they were very close to my ears.

Jeff revved his engine loudly before he drove out of the pits. I followed him closely.

"Okay, Monty," Kyle said over the radio. "I want you to try and stay as close to Jeff's rear bumper as you can for now."

"Okay…"

Jeff accelerated up to a hundred miles per hour. I managed to keep pace with him, despite not being used to driving at such an odd angle produced by the steep banking. I could also feel a lot of downforce being produced with the aid of the tailfin.

"Monty, I've just told Jeff to speed up to a hundred and twenty," Kyle told me. "Do you best to stay with him."

I narrowed my eyes against the stinging wind as I accelerated after Jeff. Then, as we tore down the back straight, something inside my mind seemed to click onto the fact that I was actually racing on a proper NASCAR racetrack behind one of America's fastest racers. A grin spread across my face as I felt my adrenaline levels shoot up.

Shifting up a gear, I started to move to the outside of the track as we entered turn three. Jeff must have sensed that I was about to try and make a move on him, because he also drifted to the outside to block me. However, as soon as I saw him move out, I cut sharply to the left, dropping down to the inside line of the track. Before Jeff could react, I'd drawn up alongside him.

"Not bad, kid!" Jeff praised. "But you still need to keep up with me!"

Jeff accelerated again, and he dropped back down in front of me. I tried to stay with him, but I started to hear a strange whining noise coming from my engine.

"Kyle, my engine has started making a whining sound," I reported.

"Slow down and come into the pits immediately," Kyle instructed. "It sounds like you may have strained your engine a bit."

I did as I was told. By the time I arrived back in the pits, Mark had arrived. He immediately opened my hood to examine my engine.

"I don't think he's done any damage," Mark said a few minutes later as he closed my hood. "He's just unfit for high speeds, like most junior racers."

Kyle nodded. "Come and get a drink, Monty. You look like you could use one."

"Thanks. I really enjoyed that!"

"You'll probably feel pretty sore and sorry for yourself tomorrow," Mark said as the three of us drove back to the garage. "Make sure you have a nice hot shower when you get home and keep moving around. You won't stiffen up so much if you do."

"I'll try to remember that, thanks Mark."

I had almost finished my drink, when Jeff drove into the garage. He smiled when he saw me. "Hey, kid! Are you okay? What happened out there?"

"He's just unfit for high speeds, so we called it a day," Kyle explained. "How do you think he went, Jeff?"

"I think he has a lot of potential, in the right tyres. Did you tell him to try and overtake me?"

Kyle shook his front. "Nah. That was all his doing."

Jeff grinned. "Nice! I'm going to have to watch out in a few years if he starts coming up through the ranks." He gave my front left-hand fender a friendly thump with his tyre. "See you around, kid."

"Thanks for helping me, Jeff!" I called as he drove away.

"Anytime, kid!"

…

I spent the rest of the morning hanging out in the garages. Kyle introduced me to so many cars that by lunchtime, my brain was spinning. After lunch, Kyle escorted me over to pit row again, only this time, he gave me a headset to wear.

"I want you to listen in on the radio during the race," Kyle said. "Watching how other cars race is always beneficial."

I merely nodded in understanding. Kyle tuned the headset to the correct channel for me, and then I went and parked in a comfortable spot where I could see most of the track.

The race went well, with Kyle's racer coming in fifth. Afterwards, when it was quieter, I went in search of Uncle Alan. I found him just as he was emerging from the stewards' room.

"Hey! There you are, Monty. I just need to file my paperwork, and then we can go home. Did you have a good day with Kyle?"

"Yes, thank you. He asked me to give you this." I passed over a set of staples papers. Uncle Alan frowned thoughtfully when he saw what the papers were for.

"Hmm… It seems that Kyle wants to sign you up as a rookie for next year's Junior Cup series."

"He thinks that one of my parents was a racer," I explained as we drove back through the tunnel. "He wants me to do a DNA test to find out who it was."

"I've been thinking the same thing," Uncle Alan confessed. "However, I'm sure you must be aware by now that as a foster kid, legally you aren't allowed to find out who your parents are."

"I know… But, if I was a racer, and my parents' drug or blood tests results are on file, what's to stop anyone doing a DNA test to find out?"

Uncle Alan paused and he turned to look at me. "You honestly have no idea just how smart you are! Come on. We can discuss this more when we get home." He smiled when he saw me yawn. "I saw you doing some laps. You're going to sleep like a rock tonight!"

No kidding! In fact, I'll probably sleep for a week!