The Piston Cup Racing Series (reenamed as the Hudson Hornet Piston Cup series in between 2007 and 2010) is an American auto racing series championship in (most of the time) of stock cars. From 2016 to the present day, high-tech next-gen racers started dominating the circuit
It started in the late 1940s with dirt track circuits, and from 1960s to the present day, consists of asphalt racing.
In the 1950s seasons, the cars were production vehicles with no modifications allowed. The term stock car implied that the vehicles racing were unmodified street cars. In this era, tracks was on dirt. In 1951, Hudson Hortnet started racing and won in 1951, 1952 and 1953 season. He achieved thirteen victories in 1951, twenty-seven victories in 1952, and twenty-two victories in 1953 and sixteen victories in 1954.[1] In one of those seasons, Louise Nash started racing, being the first and only one woman to race in the time of the 1950s. She won three races in a row in her first season against Hudson Hornet. Because of discrimination, she had to steal her racing number to get her first chance on the track. But Louise's fearless driving style soon won her the respect of every car she raced.
In a race in one of those seasons on the Thomasville Speedway, Hornet was pushed against the wall by Leroy Heming. But with quick thinking, Hudson performed a flip maneuver over him and crossed the finish line.
Hudson's crash.
In 1954, on a race on Daytona Beach, while powersliding at Fireball Beach, Hudson Hornet lost control and rolled several times, receiving serious damage, and after that, he was hospitalized. His injuries rendered him unable to compete for the rest of the season. While Hornet made a healthy recovery and he was forced to retire.
1960s-2000s seasons
In 1960s, dirt tracks became asphalt tracks. In 1970s Kraig Shiftright won 2 Piston Cups, in 1990s Klint Shiftright won 3 Piston Cups, Haul Inngas won once in 1990s or 2000s and Strip Weathers won 7 Piston Cups between 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
2005 season
Lightning McQueen, Strip Weathers, and Chick Hicks
In the 2005 season, Lightning McQueen was a rookie. His first race was at Glen Ellyn.
The 2005 season saw seven-time Piston Cup champion Strip Weathers, constant runner-up Chick Hicks, and popular new rookie Lightning McQueen as the leading competitors. The final race of the season, called the Dinoco 400, was held at the Motor Speedway of the South. The three leading racers all had a score of 5013 points, meaning whichever of the three placed first would take home the Piston Cup and the coveted Dinoco sponsorship.
Towards the start of the race, a large accident was caused by Chick Hicks with the intention of separating himself from the gaining McQueen. The accident involved every racer except for Weathers, Hicks, and McQueen, as the ladder skillfully managed to make his way through the crash without taking any damage. The other racers received damage, however, such as Chuck Armstrong, who was taken out of the race by a tow truck.
The first three-way tie in Piston Cup history.
Subsequently, Lightning McQueen arrogantly refused pit stops, which allowed him to gain an entire lap advantage on the other racers, which continued into the final lap of the race. However, as McQueen rounded the final turn, his tires blew out, leaving him crawling to the finish line. The other racers caught up to him, and McQueen, Hicks, and Weathers all crossed the finish line at the same time, making it the first three-way tie in Piston Cup history. A tie-breaker race between the three was set to be held at the Los Angeles International Speedway.
However, during Lightning's journey there, he fell out of his trailer and ended up in the small town of Radiator Springs, where he accidentally ripped up the road and was sentenced to community service. Once Lightning served his time, he was taken to the race, where he found it difficult to concentrate due to missing the friends he made while there. However, Lightning was joyful when he discovered that Hudson and the other townspeople had come to serve as his pit crew.
McQueen assists Weathers to the finish line.
Lightning, who had learned new abilities from his friends, utilized them during the race, which allowed him to hold up well against his two competitors, eventually taking the lead. Hicks, frustrated with constantly placing behind Weathers, performed a pit maneuver on him, causing the seven-time champion to spin out of control and take heavy damage. McQueen, noticing similarities between Weathers' and Hudson's accidents, stopped just before the finish line and reversed up to Weathers, and helped him to the finish line, believing the old-timer should finish his last race. Despite being the victor, Hicks was booed for his actions, while McQueen was congratulated for his good sportsmanship.
2006-2015 seasons
Hudson Hornet Piston Cup trophy
McQueen won 7 times the Piston Cup between 2006 and 2015. Between 2007 and 2010, Doc Hudson passed away and the Piston Cup was renamed the Hudson Hornet Piston Cup, in his honor, and McQueen's team was left without a crew chief.
At the Dinoco 400 at Copper Canyon Speedway, McQueen was in the lead with Bobby second and Cal third, but all three were beaten by rookie Jackson Storm. Storm also won the next races at the Motor Speedway of the South, Grandol Oil Co. Raceway, BnL Raceway, and Rustbelt Raceway. After the last one, Cal Weathers retired from the sport, racing by the tip of his uncle, and many other veteran racers leave the sport too, leaving only a handful remaining.
Before the race at Los Angeles International Speedway, Octane Gain fired Bobby Swift. After the race's start, McQueen started to overtake others and even catch Storm on last laps. When they both came in to pit, McQueen's pit stop was faster than Storm's, and Lightning took the lead. Jackson quickly caught up with Lightning and took the lead. Following Storm's words of McQueen possibly retiring, McQueen slowed down and was overtaken by Daniel Swervez and Chase Racelott, losing two positions.
McQueen tried to catch Storm and the others, but he lost control and was sent into a roll which left him unable to compete. Lightning was hospitalized, while Storm proceeded to win the race and become the 2016 Piston Cup champion.
2017 season
Lightning McQueen and Jackson Storm
Four months later, McQueen and Cruz Ramirez were practicing and getting McQueen into shape with the goal of beating Storm at the Florida 500 at the Florida International Super Speedway. Lightning missed all qualification sessions, and because of this, he would start dead last. The first time after Doc's death, McQueen had a crew chief, Smokey, former crew chief of Doc. After the race's start, McQueen quickly began overtaking others and made steady progress through the ranks.
In the middle of the race, the new owner of Rust-eze, Sterling, said to Cruz that she should train racers instead of watching the race. Lightning heard that on the team radio and remembered that Cruz dreamed to be a racer. McQueen forgot about the race and did not notice a big accident in front of him. He perormed every move and continued the race. When all racers were called back to the pits, McQueen said that Cruz Ramirez should come back. McQueen asked Guido to change her tires, Fillmore to refuel and Ramone to repaint her. After that, he had a surprised Cruz take his place. Later, Lightning became her crew chief. Using tactics she learned while practicing with Lightning, Ramirez was able to overcome other racers, and even caught up with Jackson Storm. He attempted to distract her from winning and went as far as pushing her against the wall when she tried to pass him. Cruz performed a flip over Storm, as Doc Hudson done in the 1950s, and won the race. Officially, McQueen won the race too, because Lightning and Cruz raced with the same numbers. After the race, she signed with Dinoco, with McQueen as her crew chief, and chose number 51 as a tribute to the Hudson Hornet. Cruz continued to win races in the rest of the season.
Races
Old Piston Cup logo.
The Piston Cup races are big events sponsored by lots of trademarks and covered by the Racing Sports Network (RSN), which creates live televised broadcasts, in addition to providing other media coverage. Modern races take place at huge racing stadiums, which traditionally have oval-shaped tracks, although the shape may slightly vary from track to track, such as at the Los Angeles International Speedway.
A Piston Cup championship consists of various races where the competitors earn points in relation to their placement in the final rankings of the event. At the end of the season, the car with the most points wins the championship and receives a Piston Cup trophy, as well as sponsorship from Dinoco, a fuel brand closely associated with the Piston Cup series.
Races can vary from seven to 500 laps. Each competitor has a team of pitties, a crew chief and a hauler, which are sponsored, and may help the racer by giving advice via headsets, and by providing fuel and tire changes during pit stops.
In Raily Race comics Hudson Hornet was show as Hudson's accident after its he ends his racing carier. It was show that crash caused by his rival, Sammy, that sideswiped him out, and Doc hit racer with number 57, somersaulted and landed on wheels, while Sammy won that race and became a champion.
Cars: The Video Game takes place in the 2006 season. In the season, they are reserve drivers who replace the racers from the film. Lightning McQueen won the season.
Acoording to some comics Lightning McQueen was originally sponsored by Smell Swell and started racing in 2004, meanwhile in the films this hasMcQueen in his early racing days with Racer #7 never been mentioned. And in some other comics they say that McQueen's first race in the 2005 season was in the Bowling Lake, while according to Cars 3 it was in Glen Elyn.
There was an original version of the Cars characters in a File:2005teaser trailer.jpgCars 2005 teaser trailer2005 teaser trailer wich shows a red racecar bearing the number 57 sponsored by Corrosion Seal (Possibly an early version of Lightning McQueen) and a green racecar bearing the number 13 sponsored by File:Гонщик 57.pngRacer 57 (Early version of McQueen)Racer 13 (An early version of Chick Hicks)Nitroade (Possibly an early version of Chick Hicks). Meanwhile in Cars these racers never appeared.
Trivia
The Piston Cup is based on the real world Winston Cup, awarded to NASCAR champions from 1971 to 2003. In 2004, however, NASCAR severed relations with Winston and the award became the Nextel Cup, quickly changing to the Sprint Cup after Sprint bought out Nextel. Incidentally, the Hudson Hornet competed in the Grand National era of 1950 to 1970. Title sponsorship with Sprint ended after 2016, merging with Monster Energy to create a new title, the "Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series", starting in 2017. Before 1950, in 1949 there was "Strictly stock".
In real life, contemporary NASCAR vehicles would not be able to compete against vehicles of the Grand National era. This is because modern NASCAR vehicles are spec, racing-built sedans with sophisticated racing technology whereas Grand National era cars are modified production cars. Today's NASCAR sedans would greatly outperform the stock cars of the Grand National era. Also, NASCAR safety technology has dramatically evolved since the Grand National era and thus drivers of such vehicles would be at a greater safety risk than those driving today's NASCAR sedans.
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