"Gentlemen, this will be a one-lap race," Sheriff announced as the whole town assembled at Willys Butte to watch the action. "You will drive to Willys Butte, go around Willys Butte, and come back. There will be no bumpin', no cheatin', no spittin', no bitin', no road rage, no maimin', no oil slickin', no pushin', no shovin', no backstabbin', no road-hoggin', and no lollygaggin'."

 

Lightning was hardly listening. "Speed," he said to himself. "I am speed."

 

"Gentlemen," announced Sheriff, "start your engines."

 

Doc's engine turned over slowly, coughing and sputtering². With a smug laugh, Lightning started his own engine. It roared dangerously.

 

"Great idea, Doc," Sally muttered to herself. "Now the road will never get done."

 

Luigi dropped the flag, and Lightning took off like a rocket. The town cheered as he sent up a cloud of dust behind his rear tires. But when the dust cleared, everyone saw that Doc was still standing³ at the starting line!

 

"Doc, the flag means ‘go,' " Luigi explained.

 

Doc didn't move.

 

"Uh, Doc?" Ramone said slowly. "What are you doing, man?"

 

"Oh, dear," Doc said in a flat voice. "It would seem I'm off to a poor start. Well, better late than never." He turned to the rusty⁴ tow truck. "Come on, Mater. You got your tow cable?"

 

"Well, yeah," Mater said as he and Doc rolled along the track, far behind Lightning. "I always got my tow cable. Why?"

 

"Oh," Doc said, "just in case."

 

Curious, the other cars followed Doc and Mater.

 

Lightning was flying along the road, showing off his incredible speed. "I am speed," he said to himself, taking the turn as he rounded the turn on the dirt track. "Nothing can stop me now. I'm halfway⁵ to California—"

 

Whoa! The turn was tight, and before he could register what was happening, Lightning had lost control, dropping off a low cliff and landing hard in the sand below.

 

"Ooh, man!" Ramone said, wincing⁶ at the sight of Lightning. The race car was wedged in a grove⁷ of sharp cacti⁸. "Ow!"

 

"Whoa … ," Fillmore agreed. "Bad trip, man."

 

Lightning revved⁹ his engine, but it was no use. He couldn't move.

 

Mater giggled¹⁰.

 

"You drive like you fix roads … ," Doc said as Lightning spun¹¹ his wheels. "… lousy." The judge turned to the tow truck. "Have fun fishing, Mater."

 

As Doc drove away, Mater cast down his towline and dragged Lightning up the hill by his rear axle. "I'm startin' to think he knowed you was gonna crash," Mater said to the race car.

 

"Thank you, Mater," Lightning said gratefully as the tow truck pulled him back onto the track.

 

Radiator¹² Springs was turning out to be harder to leave than he'd ever expected.

 

"I can make a little turn on dirt, you think? No!" Lightning grumbled¹³ late that night as he scraped off the asphalt he had poured over the broken road. "And now I'm a day behind. I'm never gonna get out of here."

 

"Hey," Ramone called as Lightning muttered to himself, "you need a new paint job, man."

 

"No, thank you," Lightning said automatically. He didn't have time for a new paint job; he needed to fix that road! He couldn't believe he had lost a race to an old grandpa car!

 

"How about some organic fuel?" Fillmore suggested hopefully.

 

Lightning sighed. "Pass."

 

"Whoo!" Flo said, eyeing Lightning. "Watchin' him work is makin' me thirsty. Anybody else want something to drink?"

 

"Nah, not me, Flo," Mater said. "I'm on one of them there special diets. I'm a pre-sisional instrument of speed and aero-matics."

 

Lightning grumbled on. " ‘You race like you fix roads … ,' " he mimicked¹⁴, mocking Doc's insult. "I'll show him. I will show him." He grunted¹⁵, throwing himself into his work. Soon he had finished the scraping. He hooked himself up to Bessie and started repaving.

 

Splat!

 

"Aww, great!" Lightning shouted as he tried to shake off the tar¹ Bessie had squirted all over him. "I hate it, hate, hate, hate, hate it!"

 

But no matter how much he hated it, Lightning kept on working all through the night.

 

小镇的居民聚集在威利岗观赛。警长宣布：“先生们，这场比赛一圈定胜负。你们要开到威利岗，绕过它再返回来。不许碰撞、作弊、吐口水，不许咬人、发飙、乱放油、推挤，更不许暗箭伤人、独占道路、横冲直撞。”

 

麦坤根本没听。他自言自语：“速度，我就是速度！”

 

警长宣布:“先生们！发动你们的引擎！”

 

博士的引擎咔咔地响了几下，慢慢启动起来。麦坤自鸣得意地大笑一声，启动引擎，发动机的声音震耳欲聋。

 

莎莉嘟囔着:“博士，都是你想的好主意！现在，路永远修不好了。”

 

卡布挥下旗子，麦坤像火箭一样冲了出去，后轮甩起一团烟尘，整个小镇的居民都欢呼起来。但灰尘散去之后，大家却惊愕地发现，博士仍然停在起跑线上。

 

“博士，挥旗表示‘出发’。”卡布解释了一遍。

 

博士仍原地不动。

 

“呃，博士，你在干什么？”雷蒙慢吞吞地说。

 

“哦，天啊！我好像没开个好头，”博士用平淡的语气说，“不过，迟到总比不到好！”他转向锈迹斑斑的拖车说：“来吧，板牙，你准备好你的牵引索了吗？”

 

“嗯，当然，”板牙和博士远远跟在麦坤后面，他们沿着赛道走着。板牙说，“我到哪儿都带着牵引索。问这个干什么？”

 

“没什么，以防万一。”博士说。

 

其他居民感到好奇，也跟在博士和板牙后面。

 

麦坤在路上飞驰，炫耀着自己惊人的速度：“我就是速度。”他在泥土赛道上转了个弯，自言自语地说：“现在谁也不能阻挡我，我就要到加州了……”

 

哎呀！由于转弯转得太急了，麦坤还没反应过来便失去控制从小悬崖掉了下去，重重地摔在下面的沙堆上。

 

麦坤陷入了一堆长着锋利尖刺的仙人掌中间。雷蒙皱起了眉头：“哦，天啊！真糟！”

 

“唏，车技真烂。”芙蓉表示赞同。

 

尽管麦坤再次启动引擎，但为时已晚。他动也动不了了。

 

板牙咯咯地笑了起来。

 

麦坤转动后轮，博士看着他说：“你开车跟你修路一样……真是糟透了！”法官转身对拖车说：“板牙，把他吊上来。”

 

博士走后，板牙放下牵引索，用后轴把麦坤拉了上来。“原来博士早料到你会摔下去。”板牙说。

 

拖车把麦坤拉回赛道，麦坤感激地说：“谢啦，板牙。”

 

离开水箱温泉镇比麦坤想象的难多了。

 

那天深夜，麦坤铲着铺在路上的柏油，他一边铲一边抱怨：“你觉得我能在泥土路上转弯？不！我又浪费了一天时间！看来我永远也不能离开这里了。”

 

正当麦坤自言自语的时候，雷蒙朝他喊：“嘿，老兄，你需要一套新涂装。”

 

麦坤下意识地回答：“不要，谢啦！”他没时间给自己换套新涂装。麦坤要把路修好!他不相信自己竟然输给了那辆老掉牙的车。

 

芙蓉满怀期待地提议：“要不要来瓶有机汽油？”

 

麦坤叹了口气：“不要。”

 

芙蓉看着麦坤说：“喔！看他干活我都渴了，有人要喝点什么吗？”

 

板牙说：“芙蓉，我不喝，我正在实施特殊饮食法。我现在是速度和空气力学的精密仪器。”

 

麦坤继续抱怨着。“你开车跟你修路一样烂……”他模仿着博士的话，蔑视博士对他的羞辱。他全心全意投入工作，嘴上嘟哝着：“我会证明给他看的，我会证明给他看的！”很快，麦坤把地上的柏油都铲完了。接着，他拉起贝西，启动发动机重新开始铺路。

 

啪！

 

麦坤试图把贝西滴在自己身上的柏油甩掉，他叫了一声说：“啊，真糟!我讨厌这工作！我恨它，恨它，恨死它了！”

 

不管有多讨厌这工作，麦坤还是修了一整夜的路。

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