A Girl Who Races

Tragedy on the Track

Amelia follows in third place, behind the pace car. She scans the audience, half hoping to see Nicki and Linda. Who am I kidding, I'm not going to find them. She focuses on the track and her thoughts go wild. She's a little more on edge this race and she doesn't know why.

"You alright Amelia?" Doc asks through the comms.

"What?!" She snaps back.

"You zoned out there. You weren't responding."

"Oh sorry, yea, I'm fine." There's a short pause before Amelia speaks up again. "I'm not so sure about this Doc, I have a bad feeling this time around."

"It's just your nerves talking. Race like you always do and you'll do great." Doc reassures.

"Ok." Amelia says trusting her crew chief.

Amelia sees the green flag wave and pushes her uneasy feeling away, focusing completely on the race. She comes up behind Cal, bumper drafting for awhile.

"Lightning McQueen is holding a strong lead. It's going to be hard to get past him." Darrel Cartrip announces.

"Cal is staying in front of Amelia for now, but will he be able to keep his position?" Bob adds in.

"My votes are on Lightning this race but there's no doubt Amelia won't go down without a fight." Darrel says.

30 laps in and Amelia makes a move on Cal, he slips up by opening the inside, she comes out from behind him and pulls up beside him. She slowly gains ground on him.

"What?! No comment?" Cal asks surprised as she passes him.

"Not today Cal, sorry to disappoint." Amelia laughs.

"I can't believe she actually ran out of words." Bobby laughs from close behind Cal.

"I know right! I never thought I'd live to see the day!"Cal responds.

50 laps in, Amelia still can't shake the gut feeling she has. She keeps ignoring it as best she can. She pulls into her pit stop close behind McQueen.

"The two leaders, Lightning McQueen and Amelia Tsunami come into pit road. In the meantime Bobby Swift and Cal Weathers stay out on the track." Darrel says.

"You're right about one thing Darrel, Amelia will not be going down without a fight, she is determined to win this race." Bob says.

Amelia watches Guido go around Lightning, mentally timing her own pit stop. The racers leave at pretty much the same time just as Amelia had hoped. They pull back into their previous positions. Amelia fights Bobby for a few laps but gets her 2nd position back.

Coming up to lap 150 Amelia feels a bit better, her gut feeling starting to go away. Doc was probably right, it's just my nerves talking. She thinks as she keeps her eyes trained on the red spoiler in front of her. Lap 151 is when the race takes a turn for the worst. Amelia finally starts gaining ground on the outside of McQueen when she suddenly hears a loud pop. She looks over to McQueen right before the red stock cars back bumper starts weaving all over the racetrack. Amelia has no time to react. Lightning accidentally clips Tsunamis front left bumper and it's enough for Amelias tires to lose traction. Fear grips her as she feels the car goes hurdling towards the barrier, hands tight on the steering wheel desperately trying to correct herself. All she can hear is the screeching of tires on asphalt as other racers slam on their brakes to avoid the wreck.

Doc looks on from his podium, eyes wide with disbelief, all he can do is hope and pray that both his racers will be ok as he watches the scene unfold right before his eyes. He hears a sharp inhale come from Sally beside the podium, the entire team goes silent all hoping they will come out of this unscathed, Doc knows better than that, though. From his experience, crashes like this never end well, and he curses himself that he can't do anything but watch, especially since Amelia told him she felt something was off. Doc stares with wide eyes as Lightning tries to gain control again with only his front tires but the instant his front tires come loose his body goes hurdling towards the barrier. A sickening thud rings out through the entire stadium as his body crunches against the hard barrier. Doc winces, then tenses up almost feeling like throwing up as he watches the red car turn around backwards. He hears Sally again, gasp, she starts to choke up as tears form in her eyes as the red racer goes flying through the air, knocked out cold from the hit with the barrier, he hits the asphalt surface and goes scraping along on his side, loose debris, and aluminum flying everywhere. He continues to tumble over and over again, each time gaining a few more dents. After what feels like forever he comes to a rolling stop, all four wheels touching the ground and a cloud of smoke billows around him, blocking him from Doc's view. Doc looks over to the familiar blue and white car where Amelia is having a similar problem.