"Hey, kid!" Mack called as Lightning headed toward him. "Congrats on the tie!"

 

"I don't want to talk about it," the rookie replied grumpily. "C'mon, let's go, Mack. Saddle up. What'd you do with my trailer?"

 

"I parked it over at your sponsor's tent," Mack said. "You gotta make your personal appearance."

 

Lightning groaned¹. His sponsor was Rust-eze Medicated Bumper² Ointment³, and the tent was always filled with rusty⁴ old cars. Lightning would have preferred something flashier, like Dinoco, but it was Rust-eze that had given him his big break. And a contract was a contract. He had to make a personal appearance, and that was that. He forced a smile and drove into the tent.

 

"Nothing soothes⁵ a rusty bumper like Rust-eze," Lightning's recorded image said over a plasma⁶ TV screen in the back of the tent. "Wow, look at that shine! Use Rust-eze and you, too, can look like me. Ka-chow!"

 

The race car heaved a sigh as he watched his bosses—two brothers who were the owners of Rust-eze—tell their usual bad jokes. The rusty cars who filled the tent laughed their bumpers⁷ off at everything the two brothers said.

 

"I remember this car from Swampscott," one brother said to the crowd, "he was so rusty, he didn't even cast a shadow!"

 

The assembled cars hooted⁸ and honked⁹ as soon as they saw their hero.

 

"Ecck … I hate rusty cars," Lightning muttered under his breath. "This is not good for my image." He slunk behind a cardboard cutout of himself, trying to hide.

 

"Hey, look, there he is!" one of the brothers cried, catching¹⁰ sight of Lightning.

 

"Our almost champ!" the other shouted. "Get your rear end in here, kid!"

 

A spotlight¹¹ flashed onto Lightning. He made his way through the rusty cars, greeted the crowd, and forced himself to laugh at his bosses' jokes. Finally, it was time for him to go.

 

"Aw, we love you," his boss said as Lightning backed into his trailer, "and we're lookin' forward to another great year—just like this year!"

 

Lightning smiled. Then the gate crashed down. "Not on your life," he grumbled¹².

 

“喂，小子！”麦克对向他走来的麦坤说，“祝贺你取得并列第一！”

 

“别提了，”麦坤生气地说，“好啦，麦克，我们出发吧！对了，你把我的拖车放哪儿了？”

 

“我把它停在赞助商的帐篷里了，”麦克说，“你得去露 个脸。”

 

麦坤抱怨起来。他的赞助商是除锈灵（保险杠除锈剂）。除锈灵的帐篷里挤满了锈迹斑斑的旧车。麦坤更希望得到出手阔气的赞助商的支持，比如岱诺可。但是他的机遇却来自小小的除锈灵。然而合同已经生效，他得亲自到场。事实情况确实如此。他挤出一丝微笑，驶进了帐篷。

 

“保险杠除锈灵，一涂就好，最能见效。哇哦，看看那闪亮的光泽！用除锈灵，你也能像我一样亮！咔嚓！”挂在帐篷后面的等离子电视屏上播放着麦坤的录像。

 

麦坤的老板，也就是卖除锈灵的厂商，是一对兄弟，他们正在讲一个老掉牙的冷笑话。然而，不管兄弟俩说什么，帐篷里那些生锈的车都会笑掉下巴。麦坤看到这些便开始叹气。

 

“我没记错的话，这辆车是从斯瓦姆斯科特来的。”一个兄弟对人群说，“瞧，他的锈那么厚，连地上都看不到他的影子！”

 

一见到心中的大英雄麦坤，这些聚集在一起的生锈的汽车便纷纷按响喇叭，欢呼起来。

 

“我讨厌生锈的汽车，”麦坤低声咕哝，“这有损于我的形象。”他偷偷跑到自己的车型硬纸板画像后面，想要躲起来。

 

“嘿，大家看，他在那儿呢!”其中一个兄弟看到麦坤便大喊起来。

 

“我们的准冠军！”另一个兄弟也大喊，“快过来，小子！”

 

一束聚光灯打在麦坤身上。他穿过一辆辆生锈的汽车，向大家打招呼，接着又勉强挤出一丝笑容来回应老板讲的笑话。终于，离开的时刻到了。

 

“太棒了，我们爱你。”随着麦坤倒退着驶进拖车，他的老板说，“我们期待明年继续合作——就像今年一样！”

 

麦坤面露微笑。就在这时，车门哗啦一声关上了。“这辈子别想了！”他抱怨道。

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