Lightning moaned. He was having a terrible nightmare. It was the Piston¹ Cup final, and he was being beaten—by Frank the combine! In a whirlwind, Frank took the trophy² and the Dinoco sponsorship and had gorgeous female cars fawning³ all over him. It was horrible.

 

"No!" Lightning cried, startling awake. He looked at the alarm clock. A tiny car had just popped out of a cone⁴ and honked⁵ its horn. "I gotta get out of here."

 

Lightning sped off to find Sheriff. He needed his daily gas ration⁶. But Sheriff wasn't at the impound, so Lightning zipped over to Doc Hudson's office.

 

"Hey, have you seen Sheriff?" Lightning asked as he burst into the office. He realized with a sudden start that Sheriff was up on a hydraulic⁷ lift, getting a private smog check. His entire underside was exposed! "Ahh!" Lightning cried in horror. "Oh my gosh."

 

"Hey, what are you doin'?" Doc Hudson demanded. "Wait for him at Flo's. Now, get out of here."

 

"I've been trying to get out of here for three days!" Lightning shot back.

 

"Hope you enjoyed the show!" Sheriff called as Lightning drove off.

 

On his way out, the frustrated⁸ race car kicked an old oilcan into Doc's garage. He cringed as something crashed inside. Oops. He hadn't meant to break anything. In spite of the signs that read NO TRESPASSING⁹ and PRIVATE PROPERTY, Lightning decided¹⁰ he'd better go inside and make sure everything was okay.

 

"Whoa, Doc," Lightning said as he drove cautiously into the office, "time to clean out the garage, buddy¹¹." He scanned the junk littering the garage; the place was piled high with mess. As he headed toward the back, he spotted¹² something on Doc's desk. It was covered in dirt and filled with tools, but the shape was familiar. Lightning rolled over for a better look. He gasped¹³ at what he saw. It was a racing¹⁴ trophy. But not just any trophy—it was the Piston Cup!

 

THE HUDSON HORNET, it read, CHAMPION: 1951.

 

"He has a Piston Cup?" Lightning whispered, stunned¹⁵. On the floor nearby were two more, from 1952 and 1953. "Oh my gosh, three Piston Cups?" He couldn't believe it. But sure enough, he came across a newspaper article proclaiming Doc "Champion for All Time."

 

"The sign says ‘stay out,' " Doc growled¹⁶ as he appeared in the doorway¹⁷.

 

"Y-you have three Piston Cups!" Lightning stammered¹⁸. "You're the Hudson Hornet!"

 

"Wait over at Flo's," Doc snapped angrily, "like I told you."

 

Lightning started to leave, but in the doorway, he stopped in his tracks. "Of course!" he said, realizing the truth. "I-I can't believe I didn't see it before. You're the Fabulous¹⁹ Hudson Hornet. You still hold the record for most wins in a single season. Oh, we gotta talk. You gotta show me your tricks, please—"

 

"I already tried that," Doc pointed²⁰ out.

 

"I mean, you won the championship three times!" Lightning gushed²¹. "Look at those trophies²²!"

 

"You look." Doc fixed²³ Lightning with a steady gaze. "All I see is a bunch of empty cups." With that, he slammed the door in Lightning's face.

 

麦坤痛苦地呻吟着。他做了个噩梦。梦里，麦坤来到活塞杯殊死赛的现场，他竟然输给了阿呆那辆收割机！一眨眼工夫，他看到阿呆包揽了活塞杯和岱诺可奖金，身边围着一群靓丽的女赛车。这样的梦对麦坤来说，简直太可怕了。

 

“不！”麦坤大叫一声从梦中惊醒。他看了看闹钟，一辆小玩具车从锥形闹钟里弹出后响起喇叭。“我必须离开这里。”

 

麦坤冲出旅馆去找警长。他需要今天的汽油。但是，警长不在拘留所，于是麦坤便转道去蓝天博士的诊所。

 

“喂，你看到警长了吗？”麦坤冲进诊所就问，他看到警长正在液压升降机上做私人尾气检查，下身赤裸裸地摆在自己眼前。“啊……”麦坤惊慌失措地说，“哦，我的天哪！”

 

“喂，你跑到这里做什么？”蓝天博士质问道，“去芙蓉店里等他。快点离开这里。”

 

“这三天我一直都在尝试离开这里！”麦坤大声反驳。

 

“欣赏够了吧！”警长冲着夺门而出的麦坤喊道。

 

麦坤一脸沮丧地走了出来。他不小心踢到了一个旧油桶，油桶滚进了蓝天博士的车库。车库里传出哗哗啦啦的碰撞声。天啊！麦坤开始局促不安，毕竟他不是故意要打破东西。虽然车库的门上贴着“私人车库，外人莫入”的警示牌，但麦坤还是决定进去看一看以确保没有什么东西被打碎。

 

麦坤小心翼翼地走进车库。“哇，蓝天博士，该打扫一下自己的车库了。”他看着散落一地的废旧物品，都快堆成一座小山了。往前走了几步，麦坤突然注意到博士的桌子上放着一些似曾相识的东西。尽管已经落满了厚厚的灰尘，上面又堆满了其他的工具，但麦坤对这种形状很熟悉。他继续往前走，想看个究竟。这一看不要紧，麦坤被眼前的东西惊呆了——一座赛车奖杯，不，确切说是——活塞杯！

 

“哈德森·大黄蜂——1951年冠军”

 

麦坤惊呆了，他嘀咕起来：“他竟然获得过活塞杯？”在旁边的地上还放着另外两座，分别是1952年和1953年的冠军奖杯。“我的天啊，三座活塞杯？”麦坤简直不敢相信。但是，当他看到旁边报纸上一篇名为《蓝天博士——永远的冠军！》的报道时，他相信这一切都是事实。

 

“我的门上写着，‘禁止入内’！”博士来到门前咆哮道。

 

“你你——竟然有三座活塞杯！”麦坤结结巴巴地说，“你就是哈德森·大黄蜂！”

 

“我不是告诉你了吗？去芙蓉那里等着！”哈德森气得咬牙切齿。

 

麦坤准备离开。走到门口时，他突然停了下来。麦坤明白是怎么回事了，他对蓝天博士说：“我明白了，但是我还是不相信我竟然一直没有发现。你就是大名鼎鼎的哈德森·大黄蜂。你至今仍保持着单个赛季夺冠次数最多的纪录。我们应该交流一下，你得给我展示一下你的绝技啊！拜托……”

 

“我已经告诉过你了。”博士指明。

 

“我是说，你得过三次冠军，看！多么帅气的奖杯！”麦坤夸张地称赞道。

 

“你听着，”博士盯着麦坤说，“对我来说，仅仅是一堆空杯子而已。”话音一落，他便砰地把麦坤关在门外。

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