III. The Hollywood Ending Scenario
"Welcome back everyone to another Piston Cup season where today we are at Florida's beach for the Dinoco 500 in style. I got to tell you Darrell, I've never seen a speedway more technological advanced than this, able to fit a quarter of a million fans in the stands and with a great view of not only the sea but the track itself. I'm Bob Cutless, joined always by my co-presenter Darrell Cartrip."
"This is certainly a way to start the new season of strong, fans everywhere are waiting to see what these racers are going to bring to the field. And if they can at least rival Jackson Storm."
"Speaking of certain, let's check in with Stat Sensation, Miss Natalie Certain. Natalie, what have you got for us today?"
"Well Bob, Storm's numbers seem to improve every single race. Storm's appears to be 96.8% unstoppable today with every car only giving a 1.3% of a challenge. I'm willing to bet he'll win this race before it even begins."
"Well, let's see if Lightning McQueen has anything to say about it."
"Wipplefilter?" Miss Fritter gasped. "Nobody better even think about touching that channel...or else!"
"Being the only remaining veteran racer in the Piston Cup, a lot is riding on his bumpers to put on a show and considering his unusual ways of training for this day, it sounds like he's ready for today. The only question is, will it be enough to pose a challenge against Storm..."
Pit row was busy, pitties driving around with stacks of tires, race cars being interviewed or talking to other cars, trailers occupying the spots but despite this, in one of the many storage garages behind pit row, behind the barb wire fencing, one garage door was closed with a certain red race car inside.
The light above McQueen did light up the entire room but McQueen knew there were two pitties in the dark corners. "Wait, what? What did you say?"
"I'm not letting you race."
A million questions buzzed around in his mind, until finally he found his voice. "...what...are you...we had a deal!"
Sterling sighed, it was obvious McQueen wasn't going to listen. "It's the best thing for you. Don't you realise you are? The biggest brand racing's ever seen."
"Brand?" McQueen asked, with a very big hint of sadness in his voice. "I'm not a brand..."
"Are you kidding. The second you retire, you'll be worth 2, 3 times more than you can make on the track. Oil, tires, all kind of endorsements. As a fan, I want all of this for you."
"Tires? Oil?! We had a deal!"
"We did." Sterling calmly replied. "Until your numbers started coming back from you training."
"Numbers?"
"Your suit, that you were wearing on the entire trip. I was tracking your speed and agility, on the beach, on the road, in the demolition derby and then...we noticed how your numbers compared with Cruz's."
"Cruz?" McQueen gasped.
"She was wearing one of those suits as well and Lightning, the numbers she put up everyday while she was racing with you, well, I've never seen anything like it. Not to mention, she got better by the day. It's funny, she was out there to train you but instead, she was actually being trained, by you. She was learning from the great Lightning McQueen, I should be thanking you."
Just then, two pitties from the Racing Centre came out from behind Sterling and drove alongside McQueen.
"Now, you move much quicker in phase 2 of your career and I can race her, I'd be a fool not to."
"Hey, what are you doing?! Sto-hey! You can't do this!" McQueen shouted as they ripped off his 95 stickers.
"I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted to race today." There was a pause before Sterling turned serious. "I took your name off the 95 license and put Cruz's up instead. I can only race one car. Now go home, get some rest, you'll feel better in a few days."
The door opened and Cruz then drove in.
"You wanted to see me sir...oh, Mister McQueen, already for the big race?"
"I was, but now you are."
"Wait, what?"
"Sterling took my name of the racers sheet and put your name down instead. I'm not racing today."
Cruz then turned around and stared at Sterling in disbelieve.
"Are you serious? This is McQueen's last chance and your just going to take rob it from him!"
"Look, you've seen Natalie's numbers." The Radiator Springs residents came to see what all the commotion was about and were in time to hear everything. "Her numbers never lie, if she says Storm has a 95.2% chance of winning, then he does. McQueen has no chance, whereas you do."
"I do..."
"The numbers came back from the trip and they were amazing. You've got a very high chance. If I were you, I'd take it."
As the two argued, McQueen was lost in thought. At first, he kinda was doubting she had the skills to race Storm, until he remembered how she drove, how she drifted, how she avoided being hit at Thunderhollow, how she overtook him at Thomasville...
"Guido!" Everyone stopped and looked at McQueen. "Take those numbers off her. Ramone, you got your paints?"
"You know I do."
"Alright, give her a racing livery."
"Mister McQueen, what are you doing?"
"Today's the day Cruz, you're getting your shot."
"Wait, what?! No, no, no, I can't do this, I'm just a trainer."
"No, you're not." McQueen took a deep breath. "As a racer, you got to take every shot you get because you never know when it's going to be your last. And out there, in Thomasville, I didn't see Cruz the trainer, I saw Cruz the racer. Instead of you training me, I was training you...I guess it took me a while to see it..."
"So...you're ok with this?"
"I wouldn't have ask Ramone to do this if I wasn't."
"We better hurry." Smokey interrupted. "The interviews will be rapping up in a moment and Cruz still need to set up on pit row."
"Ramone?"
"Eh...best I can do in the time frame boss." Guido stuck the stickers on her sides before dashing off to get a mirror. When he returned, Cruz gasped. The black outlines were gone and instead, a two-toned red were on her sides, lighter red inside the 95 with a darker red around the sticker. He name was written above her windows and Rust-Eze painted above her rear wheel-arches.
"Yeah, that'll work."
Cruz looked at McQueen but before they could say anything, Sterling rolled up.
"Yes, yes. This is a big moment for you but need I remind you, your second biggest moment is about 30 minutes away so, can we get this show on the road?"
"Oh, yes. Of course."
"Lightning, since you're not racing, I'll be seeing you Monday morning for a photo shoot."
Everyone went towards to pits, but McQueen took a deep breath.
"No..."
Everyone stopped but Sterling was the first to turn around.
"I'm not becoming a brand. I gave you your wish, Cruz is going to be racing instead of me so my part of the deal is done."
"What deal?"
Guido grabbed the Rust-Eze sticker on his bonnet and ripped it off. Everyone gasped as Guido placed it on Cruz.
"I quit."
"You...we...we had a deal!"
"And the deal is done. You said it yourself, you can only race one car. If you can change a deal, I think I can too. Because I didn't take part in the Florida 500, our original deal still stands, and since Cruz is racing for Rust-Eze, I have no choice to retire. If you're not going to follow it, I'm not going to follow it either."
Guido placed the last Rust-Eze sticker on Cruz's rear bumper and drove alongside McQueen.
"Good luck out there Cruz." Cruz nodded before he looked at Sterling. "Good day to you sir!" McQueen and Fillmore turned around and drove away to the exit. Guido stared coldly at Sterling.
"Lei mi fa star male." He spat, before actually spitting on the ground and drove away.
"Ah, whatever. Come on Cruz, let's go."
The three drove through the fence but unlikely the other two, McQueen stopped and turned around to look back at the track. He had tried so hard to be the best and now, he was at the end of his rope. With one big sigh, he continued driving until he found Guido loading up Mack.
"So, this is it..."
"Yeah...you have a new racer to drive around now, you're not out of your job yet. You should be happy."
"I know, I know. I'm just going to miss you, that's all."
McQueen smirked. "You do realise that you can get into trouble for this."
"I don't care. You gave me this job, I want to be your driver until you retire. And since we both didn't realise that the last race was our last drive, I want to give you a proper send off."
"Thanks Mack."
"Lightning McQueen..." He jumped and turned to find him face to face with Tex Dinoco. "I thought I'd ever see the day you actually retire. Look at you, sponsorless, numberless...this will never do. Lucky for you, I know the perfect sponsor."
"And I have the perfect number for you. Shame it had been tucked away for 50 years."
McQueen blinked in confusion, he had no idea what to think.
"I think the world's ready to know the answer, are you ready to do some racing?"
McQueen revved his engine in delight. "Just watch me."
Tex was so excited he couldn't contain his excitement and let out a very long and loud "Yee-haw!" Smokey smirked as him and McQueen shared a look of determination.
"Well, come on then," Smokey smiled as Ramone rolled up alongside. "Let's go racing."
"So, you don't think Cruz doesn't have a chance?"
"Let's face it, she started out as a trainer. This is her first race and she hasn't even trained hard for it. I doubt she even will finish in the top 5."
Before another question could be asked, a loud fanfare interrupted all interviews as Bob's voice came through all the speakers.
"Ladies and gentlecars, Dinoco have confirmed they have a racer for this race, as they will take the 43th spot on the grid. No more information has been confirmed other than a number, 51. The race car in question is in the Dinoco garage and will be ready in a moment."
Many reporters fled to the garage while others stayed to interview their chosen car.
"So Storm, can you tell us why you think you're..."
"Give me a second." He said as he drove off, leaving a bewildered reporter behind.
Storm pushed past the crowd of reporters, waiting to get a good shot of the mystery car. He stop in front of them as the garage opened. A few seconds after the garage door fully opened, revealing an dark room, the sound of a loud revving engine echoed around the dark room, soon however, the revs got louder and louder until the racer was revealed to be Lightning McQueen. His normal red paint was replaced with the blue Doc used from his racing days. His lightning bolts were now smaller and were white with the words "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" rewritten above them. His small bolts on his hood were now replaced by "Dinoco Powered" and a big yellow 51 was on his roof. On his rear bumper had the words "In Memory of Doc Hudson" and even had his old sticker.
"I don't believe racing fans!" Darrell was flabbergasted. "It's racing's all-time greats, Lightning McQueen!"
Fans both watching the race at the stadium and on TV cheered loudly as the blue racer stopped short of the garage door. He grinned as the stadium came to life with cheers. He then struck a pose and shun his right side head-light into one of the camera with a "Ka-chow!" That made the fans cheer more. Storm himself was speechless but he regained his thoughts and rolled closer to McQueen. Instead of stopping, he circled him, checking him out before stopping alongside him.
"Hm...well, you look good. I mean, it's important you look the part, can have us other racers think you're not one of us." Strom drove away, leaving Lightning a crowd of bewildered reporters behind. "Do try to keep up now, you hear? Don't make it to easy on me."
Lightning rolled onto pit row to find his pit was between Rust-Eze and IGNTR. Smokey was on the pit box with headset and Guido was waiting with four new tires for McQueen. As Guido changed his tires, the towns-folk admired McQueen's new racing colours.
"Ah bellissimo! It's great."
"I don't know what's better, you're new livery or my baby Ramone's masterpiece."
"You know it baby."
"Awesome man."
"We'll be waiting for you in victory lane soldier."
"You look good buddy."
"You look great." Sally smirked. McQueen smiled back until he looked back at the pit behind him.
"How's Cruz doing?"
"She's been better." Sally replied. McQueen narrowed his eyes.
"You should of heard what that Storm fella was saying to her."
"What did he say?"
"He was saying how slow and inexperienced she was, that sort of stuff."
McQueen sighed heavily, knowing his anger was fuelling him instead of gas. Just then, Storm rolled by.
"Oh and try not to crash now! We want you all to finish the race this time and I don't want this to be an easy win...even though you can't put up much of a fight anyway." He pulled into his pit and his crew chuckled along with him as they worked on him.
"Can you do two things for me?" Sally asked McQueen. "Come back awake."
"I'll try my best." He whispered reassuringly. "What's the second thing?"
"Don't let him win."
"Now, that I can do." He winked.
"Attention, all cars to the end of pit row. The sighting laps will begin momentarily."
McQueen, Cruz and Storm moved out of their pit and joined the other cars. "Get her done 51!" Mater blinked, realising what he said. "Done 51...that's funny right there..."
The pace car took the cars on a few laps, Storm was on pole with Paul Conrev and Sheldon Shifter behind him on row 2, with Lightning and Cruz on the last row. Cruz exhaled heavily.
"This is it uh..."
"You scared?" McQueen raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah..."
"Well, I knew this car who told me you can use anything negative to push through the positive." McQueen smirked. Cruz gave McQueen a weak smile.
"Hey," Smokey interrupted. "Can you two focus on what you're here to do?" Both cars nodded and turn their attention back to the flag-truck. "Oh and one more thing, let's see of you can make Doc proud once more."
"You get it." McQueen smirked.
The green flag waved and the cars picked up speed. Once his tires were over the line, he began overtaken cars. Cruz tried to follow but Paul and Sheldon wasn't give her a chance to pass. By the time he was going through the first turn, he overtook 3 cars.
"Lightning McQueen is already beginning his climb towards 1st."
"He's still has a long way to go if he wants to beat Storm." Natalie replied confidently.
Lap 22 turned to lap 23 as McQueen overtook Leak Less racer and then shot to the left, passing in front of him and overtaken Barry DePadel.
"Not a bad start." Smokey voice came through the headset. "First place is out of the question?"
"I trained hard for this moment," McQueen replied, pulling alongside Michael Rotors before pulling alongside Herb Curber. "shame to let that go to waste."
"Well then dig those wheels into the asphalt and remember your training. Find Storm and stay with him. Be prepared for any tricks."
"Yo, Cruz said Mister McQueen got three laps to catch him." Her crew chief called
"Cruz said you got three laps to catch him."
"McQueen smirked and over took Brenda and cut in front of her. The cars came back around into another lap with McQueen was now in 31st place.
With the laps toiling away, McQueen continued to rack up places and he started to get closer to Storm. What happened on lap 181, no one really knows. HJ Hollis in second, at the time, said Storm wasn't paying attention whereas Storm said HJ shouldn't have overtaken him on the exit of a turn and wasn't his fault, but whatever the reason was, HJ got hit by Storm and started to lose control. He slid sideways and got hit by Cam Spinner and spun around and got hit by Barry DePedal. The other cars braked and turned off to go onto the in-field of the turn and McQueen was about to follow when the No-Stall racer suddenly turned into the tree and the Florida track turned into the forest. McQueen drifted around and a huge grin started to form on his face as he sped up. He drifted around the Lil' Torquey Piston racer before drifting around the other way around Carbon Cyber. He straighten himself out and weaved past Richie Gunzit, JP Drive and Paul Conrev, barely missing them.
"History seems to be repeating itself as Lightning McQueen is the only car in the wreckage, moving under his own power."
McQueen jumped over an out-of-control Steve LaPage and flew through the wall of smoke before hitting the ground and rejoined the pack. McQueen chuckled quietly as he was now right behind Storm in fourth. Storm had no idea where McQueen was, we was to busy thinking of how to get back his lead.
"Green lights on, pit row is open and everyone's coming in." All the cars that weren't in the crash began stopping in their pits while the others had to be towed in.
"But all eyes are on two cars in particular, Jackson Storm and Lightning McQueen, as they both enter their pit boxes at the same time. Guido started the moment McQueen came to a stop, whereas Storm's pitties started 1 second after he stopped. McQueen had only stopped for 5 second and before he knew it, he was ready to go. Ryan Laney and Chase Racelott were just about to pass McQueen's box but McQueen spun his tires as he drove out of the box and got out in front of them. The three drove to the end of pit row, with other cars following. Storm finally got out but was now in 11th with Cruz right behind him.
The fans cheered loudly when the pace car finally moved into pit row and the green flag waved.
"Green flag, let's go."
McQueen reacted quickly again and formed a big gap over the others. It wasn't enough to keep ahead of Storm as he caught up again in the matter of a lap. He quickly shot in front of McQueen and McQueen then lost control. He hit the wall and skid along the wall for a while. He then moved away from the wall but he still didn't have enough traction and found himself skidding sideways into the in-field. The crowd didn't say anything and watched in dismay as he stopped.
"Hm...looks like the champ came back to racing too soon. His retirement is coming closer than ever." He laughed with his crew laughing as well.
"That was low," Chase snarled, who was behind Storm to his left. "even by your standards."
"Good luck fixing your reputation after this." Ryan added bluntly, who was on his right side.
"Yeah, whatever...how about you beat me and then we'll talk..." He smirked, pulling further ahead from the pack.
McQueen regained his surroundings and rolled back onto the track. Cruz had been waiting for McQueen and the two began to catch up on the pack.
"You ok Mister McQueen?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Cruz."
"What's the damage?" Smokey's voice came through the radio.
McQueen looked back at his right side, his rear wheel arch had a massive dent from where he had hit the wall and the paint had been scuffed from sliding along the wall.
"Non-race threatening. I can still go on."
"Alright, Storm's still in first. No doubt he feel very cocky from doing that, you might need to teach him a lesson."
"No..." McQueen glanced at the flag-truck. "Not yet..."
"Lightning McQueen appears to not be attacking as soon as he returns to the track."
"McQueen's one smart guy, he probably has a trick or two up his wheel-wells. Don't count your tires before they pop."
To everyone's surprise, he stay in last for two laps but then, on the third time going around, before anyone knew it, he attacked and overtook Bubba Wheelhouse Jr, before overtaken Aaron Clocker. As he left turn 1, he was know fifth from last.
"I told ya, I told ya!"
"Lightning is getting his fighting form back as he begins his climb back to first."
Lightning wasn't going to give up. He had lost the lead to Storm nine times to many, he wasn't going to lose it again.
"Bump on the inside, don't go airborne."
McQueen darted to the right, hugging the wall before darting left, heading into turn 2. McQueen smirked, continuing to lap car after car. He swung wide after overtaking Slam DeBrakes and cutting in front of Flip Dover and Rich Mixon. He then drafted behind Michael Motor heading into turn 1.
"McQueen's using every trick he knows and learned to catch Storm.2
"He's on a mission..."
He overtook Herb Curbler when his eyes fixed on Sheldon Shifter and the Clutch Aid racer. In one quick movement, he drifted past Sheldon Shifter before drifting the other way around the Clutch Aid racer.
"Lightning McQueen! Woo-hoo, yes!" Maddy McGear cheered as everyone else joined in too.
"The crowd came here to watch a race but McQueen's giving them a race and a show.
McQueen overtook JP Drive and the Gasprin racer before moving down to the inside line and drafted Brenda. Instead of continuing to follow Brenda, he followed Spare Mint racer into pit row. Although he entered his box first, McQueen wasn't worried. Guido worked fast once more and McQueen was out first once more. He raced out onto the track and slid in behind Tim Treadless.
McQueen was making excellent progress and sure enough...
"Just want to let you know. McQueen's moving up towards you."
"He's finally left last place?"
"No."
"Then why should I care?"
"Because he's now in the top 15."
Storm rolled his eyes, McQueen had finished within range of him, he couldn't careless. He led the cars onto another lap, with McQueen now closing the gap between him and Vinyl Touppe racer.
"He's now in the top 10..."
"Keep it up kid, you're going great."
Storm raced down the long straight towards turn 2. McQueen then slipped in behind JD through turn 2 and then, shot past him and Ryan.
"Come on Stickers!"
"Get her done 51!"
There were 5 laps to go when...
"He's out of the top 5 and now in the top 3..."
This is when Storm began to get a little bit worried. But then it got worse.
"He's in second. McQueen is now behind you."
Now Storm was fully worried. Luckily, he had an idea. He began to slow down and let the pack catch up with him.
"What are you doing Storm?" Rev 'N' Go racer thought.
Storm rolled alongside McQueen and quickly moved in front of McQueen before McQueen could react. McQueen shot left and then followed his path once he was behind Strom. McQueen was now drafting Storm.
"What are you waiting for?" Ray shouted. "Shake him off!"
Smokey laughed as they went by.
Storm kept swerving but McQueen reactions were just to good and he just couldn't shake him.
"Stop doing this!" Storm yelled. "You're taking me off my line."
"Last lap!"
"Get rid of him Storm!"
The white flag waved as Storm and McQueen came around once more.
"Aren't you suppose to be the greatest next gen racer? Come on, show me that 95.2% I heard about."
"You're not winning this!"
"My my, someone's angry."
"I. am not. angry."
"You know, cars don't say angry while gritting their teeth if they aren't."
"I said I'm not angry!"
McQueen looked onto the other side of the track and the flag-truck was ready to wave the chequered flag.
"Hey Jackson, Storm's over. Make room so this lightning bolt can shine."
Storm growled loudly. He was so angry that he almost let Lightning overtake him.
"I don't think so!" He tried to slam the door on him again but McQueen swerved the other way. McQueen drew alongside Storm and in a fit of rage, Storm slammed into McQueen. McQueen was ready and began to push against him and a shower of sparks poured from the two cars as they tried to stop each other from winning. Suddenly, McQueen realised that Storm was sliding ahead. Now that he was out of Storm's draft, his speed decreased but if he hadn't been clinging onto Storm, he might have lost the race. Storm was also pushing McQueen closer to the wall. Then, the finish line came into view...
"Kid, get out of there!"
"Come on stickers."
"You've taken your last victory long ago, old-timer!"
Then Storm turned into the rookie. McQueen then looked ahead of them and found himself looking through Doc's POV of Smokey's story, as Florida was replaced by Thomasville.
McQueen eased off more and Storm was pushing harder into the wall. In one quick movement, he put his right wheels on the wall and then flipped over Storm. Time slowed down. Smokey and Sally eyes widen, Doc's old racing buddies mouths dropped and Maddy found herself frozen. Time returned back to normal as McQueen's rear right wheel hit the ground and the sound of tires squealing echoed around the speedway. Storm was so shocked that he didn't realised he hit the wall. McQueen shot forward and crossed the line, with the chequered flag waving above him.
"I don't believe it, Lightning storms into the lead and takes the win!"
"I am speechless!"
Fireworks shot up into the sky from the beach as the crowd went nuts. Storm stopped scrapping the wall long enough to come 20th. Smokey and the the Radiator Springs resistances cheered in delight as McQueen did his parade lap.
"Lightning McQueen!"
"Nicely done kid." Louie smiled.
The Crazy Eight racers shouted and the hit the ground so hard, the building felt like it shook. Even Lizzie couldn't contain her excitement and let out a "Woo-hoo!"
Darrell watched as McQueen had finished his parade lap. "Man, that was a heck of a win." He then turned around. "So, still think your numbers never lie?"
Natalie chuckled nervously. "Well, they can't be right all the time, where's the fun in that?"
McQueen sighed happily, he hadn't won a race in ages and had forgotten how great it was.
"Dude, you were amazing." Daniel winked as he pulled alongside, but moved away from McQueen as Chase pulled alongside.
"Much respect bro."
"Hell of a win." Ryan smirked, as he and Bubba pulled alongside on the other side of him.
"Your living proof that you can teach an old-timer new tricks." Bubba chuckled.
"And your living proof not everyone can be a racer." McQueen laughed, as he pulled ahead of the 4. The crowds chanted his name and he then proceed to do some victory doughnuts. McQueen was quickly hidden from view but then, the sound of squealing tires stopped all together. He then jumped out, struck a pose and yelled "Ka-Chow!"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how over the top was that?"
"4." Sally chuckled, driving closer to him. "Needs more smoke."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're just trying to stroke my ego."
"Out of my way, move it rusty!" Sterling shouted at Mater. "Are you for real? We had a deal!"
"We did, before you decided to change it."
"I had to, for the future of this company. If Rust-Eze is going to survive, we had to make some sacrifices."
"Tell me this, was those sacrifices worth it?"
Sterling and McQueen glared at each other.
"Mister Sterling, I would like to talk to you." Tex and Sterling drove away, with Tex giving McQueen a wink.
"Excellent racing today, McQueen."
"King!"
"Nice to see the long line of greats are still continuing. We were worried for a while with Cal."
"Again, right here." Cal replied bluntly.
Reporters surrounded McQueen questions all the while his confidence grew.
And for a long time afterwards, McQueen was happy. Sterling was fired and Rusty and Dusty came back when Tex bought Rust-Eze. McQueen gained a lot of respect, especially from the next gen racers. The next gen racers that gave him a lot of respect were Cruz Ramirez, Ryan Laney, Bubba Wheelhouse Jr, Chase Racelott and Daniel Swervez. Jackson Storm race for the rest of the season and quit due to the embarrassment and humiliation. He ended up joining a GT racing series. Cruz, Chase, Ryan, Daniel, Bubba and McQueen became very good friends and enjoyed racing against each other. They kept playing tricks on each other and even took a roadtrip, with the exact same locations that McQueen and Cruz took for this race. Thomasville had been rebuilt and the Doc's old racing friends got new paintjobs. The next gen and the old racers found themselves racing on the speedway for an entire weekend. The Piston Cup may never be the same without McQueen's old friends but with his new friends, McQueen felt like there was not place he rather be.
