Lightning idled in the infield, dazed. He could hear The King and Chick speeding around the track—but they seemed far away.

 

"Kid, you all right?" Mack asked over the radio.

 

Lightning gave himself a shake, trying to clear his head. He knew that he was losing time. He'd never catch up to the other cars now. "Uh, Mack, I don't know. I don't think—"

 

Suddenly, a different—and familiar—voice growled¹ over the radio. "I didn't come all this way to see you quit."

 

Lightning gasped². "Doc?" The rookie peered at pit row, where a crowd of folks were waving. Almost everyone was there—Ramone, Flo, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, Sarge—even Mater. "Guys!" Lightning cried happily. "You're here!"

 

"Hey, it was Doc's idea, man," Ramone said.

 

Lightning looked at the crew chief platform. Doc was there—painted up as the Fabulous³ Hudson Hornet. He looked glorious. "I knew you needed a crew chief," Doc rumbled⁴, "but I didn't know it was this bad."

 

"Doc, look at you!" Lightning said in awe⁵. "I thought you said you'd never come back."

 

"Well, I really didn't have a choice," Doc replied. "Mater didn't get to say good-bye."

 

"Good-bye!" Mater hollered. He looked at Doc. "Okay, I'm good."

 

Lightning laughed.

 

"All right," Doc said, getting down to business, "if you can drive as good as you can fix a road, then you can win this race with your eyes shut. Now, get back out there."

 

In an instant, Lightning tore onto the track. Suddenly, he felt he had the focus of a laser beam. The team from Radiator⁶ Springs let out a cheer as he ripped up the asphalt, gaining on Chick and The King.

 

"We are back in business!" Doc shouted. "Guido, Luigi—you're going up against professional pit crews, boys. You're gonna have to be fast."

 

"They will not know what hit them!" Luigi promised.

 

"Kid, you can beat these guys," Doc said over his headset. "Find the groove⁷ that works for you and get those laps back!"

 

Meanwhile, the monitors showed Lightning's new crew. "Darrell, it appears Lightning has got himself a pit crew," Bob said as the cameras zoomed⁸ in on Doc, "and look who he has for a crew chief."

 

The crowd recognized Doc and began to cheer, welcoming him back.

 

Bob looked down at pit row in amazement⁹. "Wow, this is history in the making; nobody has seen the racing¹⁰ legend in over fifty years."

 

But history was happening on the track, too, as Lightning whipped past Chick and The King.

 

"Lightning's coming up fast… He goes three wide and passes them on the inside!" Bob announced excitedly. He couldn't believe it.

 

"What?" Chick was shocked as Lightning slid past, making up the first of his two lost laps.

 

Back in Radiator Springs, Sally, Lizzie, and Red watched Lightning on television.

 

"C'mon! You got it, Stickers!" Sally exclaimed.

 

Making up his second lap, Lightning closed in on Chick and The King again.

 

"Oh," Chick muttered, "kid's just trying to be a hero, huh?" With a sudden jerk, Chick knocked Lightning as he started to pass. "Well, what do you think of this?" He sneered¹¹ as Lightning spun¹² around until he was facing backward.

 

But Lightning didn't slow down. He bolted past Chick—in reverse.

 

"Whoa!" Mater whooped¹³ from pit row. "I taught him that. Ka-chow!"

 

"What a move by Lightning!" Bob cried as he looked down on the race from the booth. "He's caught up to the leaders!"

 

"A three-way battle for the lead with ten to go," Darrell continued.

 

麦坤在内场不知所措，头昏眼花。他能听到车王和路霸在赛道上飞驰的声音——但他们看上去很远。

 

“孩子，你没事吧？”麦克通过无线广播问。

 

麦坤抖了抖身子，试图清理头上的泥土。他知道自己是在浪费时间，可能没有机会追上其他的对手了。“呃，麦克，我不知道，我想我不能……”

 

突然，广播里传来一声异样却又熟悉的咆哮声。“我大老远赶来可不是来看你半途而废的!”

 

麦坤惊讶地问：“蓝天博士，是你吗？”他朝维修站看去，温泉镇的村民正朝他挥手。几乎所有人都到了——雷蒙、芙蓉、卡布、奇诺、辉哥、士官长还有板牙。麦坤高兴地大喊：“伙伴们！你们都来了！”

 

“喂，这是蓝天博士的主意。”雷蒙说。

 

麦坤向维修队所在的站台望去。博士果然站在那里，还是当年大名鼎鼎的哈德森·大黄蜂一样帅气的打扮。“我知道你需要一名维修队长，”博士抱怨着说，“但我不知道实际情况这么糟糕。”

 

“蓝天博士，你今天太帅了！”麦坤肃然起敬，“我以为你说永远不会回来了。”

 

“哦，我别无选择，板牙还没来得及给你说再见。”博士回答。

 

“拜拜！”板牙呼喊了一声。他看了看博士：“好了，我说完了。”

 

麦坤笑了起来。

 

“好了，”博士言归正传，“如果你开车的技术和修路一样好，你闭着眼睛也能赢这场比赛。现在，迅速返回赛道。”

 

一眨眼工夫，麦坤已冲回赛道。突然，他感觉自己的注意力就像激光束的焦点一样。麦坤在沥青赛道上飞驰，温泉镇前来的亲友团正为他欢呼。他正向路霸和车王逼近。

 

“大家准备好，各司其职！”蓝天博士厉声说，“奇诺，卡布！你们的对手是专业的维修团队，你们的速度一定要快！”

 

“他们输都不知道怎么输的！”卡布保证。

 

“麦坤，你能打败他们，”博士通过耳麦对麦坤说，“找到适合自己的最佳状态，把落后的几圈追回来！”

 

正在这时，麦坤的维修团队出现在赛场的大屏幕上。场上的摄像机镜头纷纷给蓝天博士特写。鲍勃说：“达伦，看来麦坤已经有了新的维修团队。快看他的维修队队长是谁！”

 

观众认出这位是曾经的大黄蜂哈德森，欢呼着迎接他的回归。

 

鲍勃惊讶地朝维修区看去：“哇，真是见证历史的时刻。大家有超过50年没有见过这辆红极一时的传奇赛车了。”

 

然而，历史也在赛道上上演。麦坤赶上并超过了路霸和车王。

 

“麦坤奋起直追，他沿外侧赛道追了三圈后从内侧赛道反超！”鲍勃兴奋地解说着。麦坤的表现令他难以置信。

 

麦坤从路霸身边飞速超越。刚才落下两圈，现在已经补回了一圈。“什么？”路霸感到震惊。

 

水箱温泉镇里，莎莉、荔枝婆和小红正通过电视观看麦坤的比赛。

 

“加油！你能行的，闪电侠！”莎莉兴奋地呐喊。

 

落下的两圈追平后，麦坤再度向路霸和车王逼近。

 

“哼！”路霸嘀咕着，“这小屁孩想逞英雄？”他猛然移动车身，狠狠地撞在正要超车的麦坤身上。“哼，这个滋味好受吗？”他讥笑着说。麦坤的车身被撞得乱转，几圈后车头向后停了下来。

 

然而，麦坤并没放慢速度。他像闪电一样超过路霸——并且是倒行！

 

“哇！”板牙在维修队里欢呼起来，“这招是我教的，咔—嚓！”

 

鲍勃从转播室俯瞰着赛场，他大喊：“麦坤这招太帅了！他要追上领先的赛车了！”

 

“三人之战，最后十圈定胜负！”达伦接着说。

点击收听单词发音