Dinoco 400

Dinoco 400
Series	Piston Cup
Location	Motor Speedway of the South (Cars); Copper Canyon Speedway (Cars 3)
Laps	400
First appearance	Cars
Latest appearance	Cars 3

The Dinoco 400 is a Piston Cup Racing Series race and a Piston Cup event. In Cars, it is the last race of the 2006 season, and it is held at the Motor Speedway of the South. Prior to the race, The King, Chick Hicks, and Lightning McQueen are tied in season points that determine the Piston Cup champion. A lot of stake happened here. The King was set to retire and pass on the Dinoco sponsorship to someone else, Lightning McQueen aiming to be the first rookie to win the Piston Cup, as well as Chick Hicks aiming to win his first title as well. However, due to a tire malfunction from McQueen, the race's results in the first three-way tie in the league's history. A three-way tie-breaker race is then set to take place one week later at the Los Angeles International Speedway. In Cars 3, it was the fourth 2016 Piston Cup race held at Copper Canyon Speedway.

History

Cars

Early on, Weathers, Hicks, and McQueen work their way to their usual positions at the front of the pack. Hicks and McQueen fight to pass one another, and their quarrel ends with Hicks performing a PIT maneuver on McQueen, causing him to spin out towards the infield. McQueen recovers quickly, and Hicks notices. Claiming that he is aiming to want Dinoco himself, he intentionally bumps Winford Bradford Rutherford, who collides with Murray Clutchburn, and soon everyone behind Weathers and Hicks are involved in a chaotic wreckage involving race cars, otherwise known as the infamous "Dinoco is all mine" incident. However, McQueen carefully weaves through the wreckage, much to the awe of the audience.

After carefully avoiding the crash, McQueen stays out on the track and refuses to take tires while every other racer is doing so. During the 301st lap, McQueen finally reaches the pit row, only for him to ignore his pit crew and fuel up a small amount of gas.

When the final lap is announced, McQueen is close to lap the racer in last place, Slider Petrolski, showing how much he is ahead of everyone else. Right as announcers Darrell Cartrip and Bob Cutlass prepare to crown the champion, McQueen's left rear tire blows out as he rounds the very last corner. McQueen tries his best to maintain as much speed as possible, but he has slowed down immensely, which only worsens when his right rear tire explodes. Weathers and Hicks round the final corner during the race, and prepare to pass McQueen, who is desperately jumping towards the finish line. McQueen, Hicks, and Weathers all cross the finish line at the exact same time—causing the fans and announcers alike to excitedly speculate who was truly the winner.

Officials take time to study footage and determine a winner while the competitors take interviews and make sponsor appearances. The officials announce that the race has been called a three-way draw, and the three first-place finishers will compete in a tie-breaker race at the Los Angeles International Speedway one week later.

Starting Positions (restart)

Finishing Positions

After Lightning McQueen left the winner's circle and headed to the trailer parking lot, the speedway's horizontal scoring pylon was seen in the background, casting the top 8 placements:

The top 8 results mirror what can be seen in the last full shot of the other racers, as The King and Chick round the final corner during the 399th lap.

The first eleven racers rounding the final corner, led by Strip "The King" Weathers in second place.
The last eleven racers rounding the final corner, led by Todd "the Shockster" Marcus in thirteenth place.

Cars 3

Most of the racers are veterans, except for a mysterious newcomer. Lightning McQueen, Bobby Swift, and Cal Weathers perform well during the race, mainly making up the top three. But on the last lap, Jackson Storm suddenly zooms past the entire top ten in a few seconds, including McQueen, Bobby, Cal, and Brick with Storm placing first and winning the race. Storm's successful debut influences other sponsors what next-generation racers can do.

Finishing positions

20: Jackson Storm
95: Lightning McQueen
19: Bobby Swift
42: Cal Weathers
24: Brick Yardley
84: Apple Racer
76: Rev Roadages
34: Dirkson D'Agostino
92: Murray Clutchburn
121: Dino Draftsky
28: Phil Tankson
15: Carl Clutchen
73: Rev-N-Go Racer
11: Chip Gearings
80: Rex Revler
00: Jimmy Cables
31: Terry Kargas
90: Ponchy Wipeout
68: Parker Brakeston
36: Reb Meeker
64: Bruce Miller
21: Speedy Comet
6: Markus Krankzler
54: Tommy Highbanks
52: Brian Spark
93: Ernie Gearson
39: Buck Bearingly
48: T.G. Castlenut
5: Lane Locke
82: Darren Leadfoot
4: Jack DePost
33: Dud Throttleman
123: Todd Marcus
117: Ralph Carlow
70: Floyd Mulvihill
67: Bobby Roadtesta

Gallery

The Dinoco press tent and sound stage.
Winners' stage and celebration
Tie-breaker
Lightning McQueen overtaking Chuck Armstrong.
Lightning McQueen overtaking Sage VanDerSpin.
Lightning McQueen driving on two wheels in order to overtake Floyd Mulvihill and Rusty Cornfuel.
Slider Petrolski's PCRC (Before he colided with Floyd)
Chick Hicks pitting.
Aiken Axler changing his tires.
Winford Bradford Rutherford drinking a can of Nitroade.
Lee Revkins and Chick Hicks battling for the 1st position.
Chick Hicks racing towards McQueen.
The King, Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen tied with 5013 points each.
Chick Hicks about to hit Winford Bradford Rutherford.
Placements 6th and behind going into the crash.
Crusty Rotor about to hit Ryan Shields.
Slider Petrolski about to hit Floyd Mulvihill. (Note: Slider gains stripes on his back in this shot)
Chuck Armstrong flying through the speedway.
Brush Curber, Kevin Racingtire and Davey Apex spinning out of control.
Rusty Cornfuel overtaking Todd Marcus and Claude Scruggs.
Claude Scruggs on top of Todd Marcus.
Kevin Shiftright stuck at the wall.
Manny Flywheel driving backwards.
James Cleanair unconscious.
Chuck Armstrong being towed out of the race.
Billy Oilchanger, Johnny Blamer and The King exiting the pits.

Billy Oilchanger, Johnny Blamer and The King exiting the pits.
Chick Hicks starting the restarting lap at the end of the pack.

Chick Hicks starting the restarting lap at the end of the pack.
Chick Hicks about to overtake Greg Candyman.
Chick Hicks about to overtake Ponchy Wipeout.
The King about to overtake Johnny Blamer.
Jackson Storm about to over take other racers.
The Dinoco 400, that took place on the Copper Canyon Speedway.
Jackson Storm passing Lightning McQueen, Bobby Swift and Cal Weathers.

Trivia

As of Cars 3, the Dinoco 400 is no longer the final race of the Piston Cup season. At least in that year, as the last race is the Los Angeles 500.
Despite having being towed out of the race, Chuck Armstrong strangely reappears in the restart lap. This is an error or somewhat a retcon however, as several other racers were also too damaged to continue racing, yet they still appear in some shots of the race.
The pit row only has 19 team stands for the racers, even though there were 36 cars competing.
- Alongside that, very strangely enough in Cars, half of the racers pit crew team's are nowhere to be seen in the film, alongside lacking visible pitrow slots. Although despite this, its very likely that the said amount still has them, as every racer very importantly needs a pit crew in the race to have their tires changed, be refueled, etc. This is seemingly a plothole in the film.
- Pit crew members who didnt appear such as: Megan Shifter (Brush Curber's pitty), Mike Stockar (Lee Revkins' pitty), Bryn Imageare (Greg Candyman's pitty) were given diecast releases in the late 2010's.
- This was however corrected in Cars 3 where every single racer has thier pit crew present.

Strangely enough, for unknown reasons, in Cars, unlike any of the other Piston Cup haulers, the team hauler of Re-Volting is absent, while only its parking slot is seen (next to Haul Inngas'), and it in addition, oddly lacks its number.
If Chick Hicks did win the Dinoco 400 alongside winning the Piston Cup, it is highly likely that Tex would still refuse to sponsor him due to having played dirty in the race and would still be booed for it. It is also likely that if The King did win, he would’ve passed on the Dinoco sponsorship to McQueen or someone else, presumably Cal Weathers but not Chick Hicks due to having hated him ever since.

Jackson Storm debuts in this race.

Dinoco 400

Series	Piston Cup
Location	Motor Speedway of the South (Cars) Copper Canyon Speedway (Cars 3)
Laps	400
First appearance	Cars
Latest appearance	Cars 3

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Dinoco 400

Contents

History