Human!Lightning McQueen x Reader (Title TBD)

Off to the Race!

4/18/24
(A/N: I know, this was long overdue. Forgive any spelling errors and such, I'm exhausted, hungry, and my back hurts. Enjoy!)

With haste, you and the rest of the townsfolk made your way to the race. Sally, Red, and Lizzie stayed behind, though. Red's fire truck didn't exactly make good time and Lizzie was far too old for all this fast-paced hullabaloo. In turn, Sally decided to stay behind to both look after the town and them. That left you, Doc, Mater, Ramone, Flo, Guido, Luigi, Fillmore, Sarge, and Sheriff to hit the road! It was a perfect pit crew in the making. A police escort, tire experts, a car artist who always did a fantastic paint job especially with the help of his woman, a racing legend for a crew chief, and a girlfriend and a best friend for the personal cheerleaders. However, that all depended on whether or not security would let you through.

"Don't worry, I know my way around the track." Doc had told you before you all left, right as you were getting into your car. What was he planning?

You could barely focus while on the road, an especially poor idea when racing down an interstate at such high speeds that would be beyond illegal if not for Sheriff's presence. You were still trying to process everything that had happened, from McQueen being whisked away without notice to learning about your mother and father, while at the same time trying to process the now and later. It was incredulous to know that you were on your way to a real race at that very moment, even more so that soon, you would be at a real race.

In addition to pondering the when and what's, it went without saying that of course you were thinking about McQueen. You were excited to see him again knowing that, only hours ago, you were certain you would never see him again, never ever. His jacket, now freshly cleaned up and straightened out thanks to Doc, was back where you felt it belonged second best to being snug around McQueen's torso. It was wrapped snugly around you and, although now faint from the washing, the smell of both him and his cologne from when he spruced up just for you remained.

Albeit hard from the darkness of the night sky, you took n what you could of your friends and their cars. Everyone tried to dress in as much yellow and red as possible. Ramone had either painted some lightning bolts or ninety-fives on everyone's cars, or applied some simple racing-like decals he had in the back. You very much enjoyed the large lightning bolt he added to your driver side. It was very reminiscent of McQueen's, definitely heavily inspired by it at the very least.

You then looked over to Doc, who was driving up at the front of the group right alongside you and right behind Sheriff. His old blue car had been given an exact recreation of its artistic beauty from his racing days. It looked exactly as it did in the pictures you had seen over the years. Never did you ever think you would see the whole thing in person. What a sight to see, it was. Doc looked slightly happier than usual, you noticed, as he drove his car that had been mostly restored to its former glory save parts, rust, and overall age. The sight made you happier, too.

It took quite a few hours, now no longer nighttime and instead midday—hell, maybe even just late morning—but the group finally made it to the Los Angeles International Speedway. With the help of Sheriff, as well as a call to some patrolling police friends in the area, you were able to speed right on last all the congested traffic caused by the sheer number of people still trying to fight their way into parking spots and further into the speedway.

The police escorted around the rear of the stadium to a heavily blocked off area under high surveillance and patrol. You figured this was the entrance for the racers and their trailers. Why else would it be so blocked off and VIP-esque? Parking your cars alongside the many fancy ones as well as the ones heavily branded by their respective racer number, the lot of you rushed towards the gates.

You could clearly hear crowd going wild already, as well the announcers giving a minute-by-minute overview of the current events of the race. A pale white began to rise to your face. You guys were already late for the start of the race. What if you were so late they wouldn't let you in? You were stopped from thinking further when Doc held out his arm to stop you.