Driven to Win

Chapter 26- Best Part of Hud's Life

This one is pretty short and most of it follows what's in the movie. I didn't think Fudge should be in the main scene in this chapter (she does appear in the chapter, though), but I felt like it was too important to leave out. So, I decided to upload two just this once! Enjoy.

Chapter 26- Best Part of Hud's Life

"You didn't come all this way for a quart of oil, did you?" Smokey asked once they were outside the bar, even though he knew the answer.

"I need your help, Smokey", Lightning informed him.

"Yeah? What kind of help?"

They came to a stop and Lightning turned around to face him. "That's just it. I... I'm not sure", he admitted. "All I know is if I lose in Florida... it's over for me. What happened to Doc will happen to me."

"Well, what did happen to him?" Smokey quizzed the race car.

"You know, racing was the... best part of his life and when it ended, he..." Lightning trailed off. "Oh, we both know he was never the same after that."

Smokey looked at him. "Is that what you think?"

Lightning didn't answer.

"Come on." The older truck was beginning to drive off. "I wanna show you something."

Lightning followed Smokey over to his garage, which was advertised as the "Best Dang Garage in Town". The drive was short and the road was quiet. Nobody was around, except for Herman, who was by the side of the road, munching on some vegetation. He looked their way curiously, but didn't move and didn't make any noise.

"You got the first part right", Smokey explained. "The crash broke Hud's body and the no more racing broke his heart. He cut himself off, disappeared to Radiator Springs. Son of a gun didn't talk to me for fifty years. But then one day, the letters started comin' in..." They arrived at Smokey's garage and the owner rolled up the door.

When Lightning saw what was inside, he was instantly overwhelmed. There were letters, photos and newspaper clippings about him everywhere, filling up an entire wall. There were photos of him at racetracks and even Willy's Butte. Some of them depicted Fudge up on Lightning's roof.

"And every last one of them was about you", Smokey finished. After Lightning had stared at the wall in silence, the pickup truck continued. "Yeah. Hud loved racing. But coaching you?" After a pause, he added, glancing at one of the Willy's Butte photos, "And I guess Fudge, to some extent." He sighed. "I'd never seen the old grump so happy. Racin' wasn't the best part of Hud's life. You were."

With those words, Smokey, sensing that McQueen needed to be alone, slipped out quietly. The stock car didn't even notice.

One particular photo- one of Doc up on the crew chief platform with Lightning beneath it- caught Lightning's attention and a flood of memories came rushing back to the race car. He could easily picture Willy's Butte and hear Doc's gravelly voice.

"You ready to blow out a little carbon there, boy?" Doc quizzed him.

"Yes I am!"

The next memory consisted of him crashing into a ravine full of cacti near the dirt track, screaming.

Of course, Doc had been unable to resist having a laugh at his expense.

"Give it too much throttle, you in the tulips!" he called, laughing.

His next memory shifted away from the dirt track and took him to Doc's garage where he'd spend many hours watching old films of Doc's old races.

"Hey, Lightnin'!" Doc had called out one day while the younger racer was doing just that. "You might wanna take notes on this one!"