When they got back to town, Mater pulled up alongside Lightning.

 

"Hey, hey," Mater whispered, "if anyone asks you, we were out smashin' mailboxes, okay?" The tow truck tore off.

 

Just then, Lightning heard a noise. The ground was vibrating. And something was … mooing?

 

It was a tractor stampede—and it was heading straight for him!

 

Lightning ducked out of the tractors' path just in time. The stampede rolled downtown, where Ramone was busy painting the white divider line down the newest stretch of asphalt.

 

"Oh, man," Ramone groaned¹ as he scurried² away, "the paint's still wet!"

 

Red was watering his flowers at the base of the Stanley statue. As the tractors drew near, he steeled himself to face the beasts. There was no way he was going to let a bunch of tractors take out his newly replanted posies!

 

The fire truck unleashed³ a mighty⁴ blast, and the tractors stopped in their tracks. With a group moo, they tipped over, except for a few strays who scattered⁵ in different directions.

 

"No, no, no, get out of the store!" Luigi cried frantically⁶ as his tire shop was overrun by stray tractors. "Hey! Don't eat the radial! Here, take the snow tire!"

 

"Mater!" Sheriff bellowed⁷.

 

"I wasn't tractor-tippin'!" Mater insisted.

 

"Then where did all of these gol' dern tractors come from?" Sheriff demanded.

 

Lightning stood at the edge of town, smiling at the crazy tractors. Suddenly, he noticed one heading out of town. "Hey, guys?" he called. "There's one going this way… . I got it." He headed off to wrangle⁸ the tractor, following it all the way to Willys Butte. Lightning whistled. "Come here, come here, tractor." He followed it to the edge of the rise that overlooked the butte. "Don't wander off." Catching⁹ sight of a lone¹⁰ car at the butte, Lightning grew quiet. It was Doc. "What are you doing with those old racing¹¹ tires?" Lightning muttered to himself. He snuck behind some brush to see what Doc was going to do.

 

Down below, Doc rubbed the dirt with a tire and sighed.

 

"Come on, Doc," Lightning whispered, eager to see the Hornet in action. "Drive."

 

Doc got into position, focusing on the track ahead. He took a moment to blow the carbon out of his pipes, then took off.

 

"Whoa!" Lightning said as Doc ripped down the straightaway, kicking up plumes¹² of dust behind him. Lightning watched nervously¹³ as Doc charged the turn at full speed, but the old car counter steered¹⁴, taking the curve beautifully. Finally, Doc finished the course and skidded¹⁵ to a stop in the same place he'd started. He was out of breath but smiling.

 

"Wow," Lightning said, driving up to Doc.

 

"You're amazing!"

 

Doc's expression hardened. He hadn't realized that anyone was watching. Without a word, the old race car took off, throwing dirt into Lightning's grill¹⁶.

 

"What are you doing?" Lightning coughed. He wasn't about to let Doc leave without a word. "Doc, wait!" The race car followed Doc back into town.

 

Doc rumbled¹⁷ into his office, slamming the door behind him, but Lightning caught it with a tire and forced his way in. "Doc, hold it. Seriously, your driving's incredible."

 

"Wonderful," Doc grumbled¹⁸. "Now, go away."

 

"Hey, I mean it," Lightning insisted. "You've still got it!"

 

Doc glared at the young race car. "I'm asking you to leave."

 

"C'mon," Lightning begged. "I'm a race car. You're a much older race car, but under the hood¹⁹, you and I are the same."

 

"We are not the same!" Doc bellowed, losing his usual cool. "Understand? Now, get out!" Doc drove to the door and held it open.

 

But Lightning didn't budge²⁰. "How could a car like you quit at the top of your game?"

 

"You think I quit?" Doc demanded. He yanked a pull chain, clicking on an overhead light. Below it was a framed article. CRASH WIPES OUT HUDSON HORNET, the headline read, above a photo of a much younger Doc—wrecked on a racetrack infield.

 

"Right … ," Lightning said slowly as his racing history came back to him, "your big wreck²¹ in '54."

 

"They quit on me." Doc was silent for a moment. "When I finally got put together, I went back expecting a big welcome. You know what they said? ‘You're history.' Moved right on to the next rookie standing²² in line." He looked carefully at the photograph. "There was a lot left in me. I never got a chance to show 'em. I keep that to remind me never to go back. I just never expected that that world would find me here."

 

"Hey, look, Doc," Lightning said, an edge in his voice, "I'm not them."

 

"Oh, yeah?" Doc demanded. "When is the last time you cared about something except yourself, hot rod? You name me one time, and I will take it all back."

 

Lightning hesitated. As much as he wanted to show the older car that he was wrong, he couldn't come up with anything that would convince Doc— or himself—otherwise.

 

"Uh-huh," Doc said. "I didn't think so. These are good folk around here who care about one another. I don't want them depending on someone they can't count on."

 

"Count on?" Lightning said. "You've been here how long and your friends don't even know who you are. Who's caring only about himself?"

 

"Just finish that road and get outta here," Doc said. He drove off, leaving Lightning alone with his thoughts.

 

俩人回到小镇，板牙走过来和麦坤停靠在一起。

 

“嘿，”板牙悄声说，“如果有人问你，你就说我们去砸邮箱去了，记住没？”他说完便一溜烟跑了。

 

就在这时，麦坤的耳边传来奇怪的声音。接着，整个地面都开始颤抖。周围不知什么东西发出哞哞的声音。

 

原来是一群拖拉机——他们正朝麦坤进军！

 

麦坤及时躲开了这群拖拉机。他们浩浩荡荡地往小镇里奔去。前面，雷蒙正在为新修的柏油路刷白色的交通线。

 

“太缺德了，油漆还没干呢！”雷蒙抱怨着，慌忙地躲开。

 

小红正在为斯坦利雕像底座里的花浇水。拖拉机冲过来了，他挺直身板准备制止他们。小红绝不会让这群家伙糟蹋自己刚种的花！

 

消防车嘟嘟地响着喇叭，拖拉机随之停下脚步。他们集体发出哞哞声，然后一个个翻倒在地。几辆掉队的拖拉机则朝不同方向跑去。

 

“不不，滚出商店！”卡布慌乱地冲他们喊，他的轮胎店现在正经受着一辆掉队拖拉机的蹂躏。“喂！不要咬那个！给，拿防滑轮胎去玩吧！”

 

“板牙！”警长咆哮着。

 

“我没有去惹他们！”板牙拒不认罪。

 

“那这些该死的拖拉机都是从哪里来的？”警长追问。

 

麦坤站在离小镇不远的地方，他笑着看着这些疯狂的拖拉机。突然，他看到一辆拖拉机朝镇子外面跑去。“喂，伙计们！这儿有一辆跑掉了……我来搞定吧！”他一边喊一边试图把那辆拖拉机截回，跟着它一路追到威利岗。麦坤呼啸而行，喊道：“回来，拖拉机，回来！”他一直追到可以俯视整个威利岗的坡顶。“不要到处乱跑了！”话音刚落，麦坤看到山丘下面孤零零地停了一辆车，他安静下来。原来是蓝天博士。“你准备拿这些破旧的赛车轮胎做什么？”麦坤喃喃自语着。他趴在草丛里，想看看蓝天博士准备做什么。

 

山丘下面，博士用一只轮胎摩擦着泥土，然后叹着气。

 

“加油，蓝天博士！”麦坤小声说。他迫不及待地想看看这辆曾经的大黄蜂重振雄风。“出发吧！”

 

博士摆好车身，眼睛牢牢地盯着前面的路。他花了一些时间把排气管里的碳呼出来，然后冲了出去。

 

博士朝着前面的大路飞驰而去，麦坤不禁惊叹起来：“哇！”博士的身后，车轮把尘土甩得很高。要转弯了，麦坤替他紧张起来。然而，博士没有减速，他朝相反的方向狠打方向，用全速完成了一个漂亮的转弯。一圈结束后，博士一个刹车稳当而精确地停在出发的位置。尽管累得上气不接下气，他难掩脸上的笑容。

 

“棒极了！”麦坤说着朝博士驶去。

 

“你简直太帅了！”

 

蓝天博士突然严肃起来，他没有想到有人在背后看到了这一切。博士一言未发，一踩油门走开了，车轮把泥土甩落在麦坤车头的进风口里。

 

“你怎么回事？”麦坤被呛得一边咳嗽一边说。他不打算让博士一句话也不说就走了。“蓝天博士，等一等！”麦坤紧跟着他回到了镇子里。

 

蓝天博士急匆匆地回到自己的诊所，试图把麦坤堵在门外。麦坤把前轮卡在门里，挤了进去。“蓝天博士，等等，说真的，你的车开得太棒了。”

 

“很好，”博士抱怨着，“满意了吧？走开！”

 

麦坤不肯就此放弃，他紧接着说：“喂，我是认真的，你依然有这个实力！”

 

博士对这位年轻的赛车手怒目而视。“我请你离开！”

 

“不要这样，我也是一辆赛车，而你又是我的前辈，本质上来说，我们是一样的啊！”麦坤黏着不放。

 

“我们不一样！”博士对麦坤大吼，脸上也失去了往日的冷静。“你听不懂吗？现在，滚出去！”博士来到门边，撑住了门。

 

但是麦坤没有就此放弃。“像你这么厉害的赛车，为什么会在巅峰时期全身而退？”

 

“你认为是我放弃了？”博士质问道。他拉下手边的链条，头顶的日光灯咔嚓一声亮了，灯光照射在一张被裱起来的报纸上，标题醒目——《哈德森·大黄蜂撞毁》。标题下是一张照片——照片上的博士看上去比现在年轻，他被撞坏在内场。

 

麦坤的脑海里浮现起赛车史上的一幕。他慢吞吞地说：“我想起来了，1954年的大碰撞，就是你？”

 

“他们放弃了我。”博士沉默了一会儿说。“当我恢复以后，我回去了，我期待大家会热烈欢迎我。你能想到他们说什么吗？——‘这里已经不是你的天下了，你该去排队，和那些菜鸟一起！’”博士一边说一边仔细地看着那些照片。“我恢复以后，原本可以大展身手，可是没有机会了。我把这些东西保留起来，就是要时刻提醒自己永远不要回去。我也从未想过会有赛车界的人在这里找到我。”

 

“喂，听着，蓝天博士，他们是他们，我是我。”麦坤说着，他的声音开始有些嘶哑。

 

“呵呵，是吗？”博士反问。“你上次关心别人是什么时候？你告诉我，哪怕一次也行，我就把我的话收回。”

 

麦坤犹豫了。尽管他很想让博士知道他是不对的，但心里却想不出任何能够让博士或者自己信服的事情。

 

“哼？你想不出来吧。在这个小镇上，住的都是好人，大家相互关心照顾。我不想让他们信任那些不靠谱的人。”博士说。

 

“信任？”麦坤说道，“你来这里已经多久了？但你的朋友都不知道你的真实身份，到底是谁自私？”

 

“你只管把路修好，然后离开这里就行了。”博士说完便走开了，留下麦坤独自站在原地，思考着他们之间的对话。

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