4Chick Hicks knew what they said about him. It was hard not to, when where ever you look it's there. On the news, online, magazines and yet did they ever think that maybe they should, I don't know interview him? So, his side of the story could be told.
He knows they call him a cheat, a bully and a down right despicable person for celebrating his win after he caused The King to crash. Why the press and fans had to constantly call Strip Weathers by that pretentious name he didn't know. It's not like he's a despicable person, not really; just desperate and tired of being so close to winning but not close enough.
He wanted a win just this once, just once to not be the runner up. He could set them straight, while McQueen may have grown up a bit from his little disappearance act, he wouldn't be able to understand his reasons. He would tell those reporters that yes, while he did intend to hit Strip, cue the booing and raised eyebrows, he didn't mean to make him crash like that.
He would explain that for years he had been coming behind Weathers and here comes this hot shot rookie who makes everything look so easy, and gets under his skin. All his frustration was reaching his boiling point when he snapped and bumped Weathers trying to slow him down enough just so he could pass him. To, for just once not come behind him. It's not like he meant to send Weathers flying like that, he didn't want to hurt him just get him out of the way. So, what if he hit him a bit harder than he meant to, it's not like Weathers died, in fact last he heard the old guy was doing rather well. Maybe it seemed a bit much to people because there was only the three of them racing, but he was known as the runner-up and who wants to be known like that.
He'd almost rather be known as the bully or cheat at least they'd be his own not because of always coming in behind Weathers. It was one of the reasons he took the thunder jib from McQueen and ran with it.
After Weathers retired it was supposed to be the Chick era, where he could finally be on top but the rookie stopped that from happening too. Sure, it was a Chick era of sorts. If you included being made fun of, ridiculed and looked down upon as something good. With all the hate being sent his way it made him want to ram more on the track yet, not that that would help at all. Just you wait, his Chick era was coming yet, he could feel it.
ooooooooo
Chick was furious. He had known his sponsors had wanted him to retire for a couple of years already; he would just brush them off and tell them he'd retire when they had to tow him off the track. But this year, after he finished 14th overall, they told him he was retired. They had already found a replacement for him and he just wasn't in favour enough to keep him anymore.
The only thing they gave him was the option to become a host of a late-night racing talk show on RSN; he was only given a week to decide but was told if he did except there would be some creative liberties.
He thought about it for the week writing down any questions or ideas he might have but had otherwise decided he'd take the offer. When they sat down for discussions his main questions were; can I gloat about my Piston Cup? And if I have guests am I allowed to not invite McQueen?
When he was told yes, he accepted the show. He had named the show Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks, where he'd chose who he thought he should win each race and the Piston Cup but also who was most likely to win each race and Piston Cup. He'd have guests who were racing experts and analysts. He figured he'd invite some of the lesser known racers, maybe the ones who wouldn't care much about McQueen.
Planning and prepping for his new direction also gave him a distraction from the World Grand Prix which he wasn't invited to join but McQueen was. That, is what he thinks really got him retired, not even have being considered for the world prix thing. In the end though, it was probably for the best with how big of a fiasco that was. In that one instance, it was better McQueen than him.
His viewership the first year was slim and he was lucky he wasn't canceled. He did find it fun though, he could gloat all he wanted to about his Piston Cup no matter how much it annoyed the crew. He could dis McQueen and his buddies and still be right in the action without being the action. He just might like it more than racing itself, no wonder Cartrip went into announcing, all the action without all the pain. He was living the good life and maybe just maybe the Chick era was finally beginning.
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The Chick era was here baby, he had one of the most popular shows on RSN and with these new next generation racers coming in McQueen was floundering. All his little racer buddies were either retiring or forced out.
He had found himself with a regular guest a Natalie Certain, a numbers girl whose numbers were never in McQueen's favour.
Some might think he had a certain sadistic glee when something would go wrong for McQueen, that's not quite what it was. He did delight in seeing things go wrong for McQueen but only because he saw McQueen as the one who ruined his racing career so anything that happened to McQueen was just karma coming around to bite him. He found it poetic justice that McQueen was struggling so much with these new rookie racers.
He had become a big supporter of Jackson Storm and had amped up his gloating about beating McQueen and winning his Piston Cup again. He hadn't expected McQueen to run himself so ragged that he made himself crash.
He didn't take any pleasure in any crash not even the ones he had made happen and certainly not one as serious as McQueen's. He didn't let it show on camera or in front of the crew, let the world think he's as crass as he portrays himself as. It's not like they knew he would closely follow the recovery of most racers if they had a crash, just to make sure they would survive and heal.
On the show, he played the crash just as an example of what McQueen's career would now be. On his own time, he kept up with McQueen's recovery and once he knew McQueen was fine and even planning a come back he went back to his normal shtick. Knowing McQueen, he'd be back in the lime light soon enough.
He was right, a week maybe a week and a half before McQueen's return race he was caught racing on some crazy 8's demo course in disguise before disappearing for the week. Almost everyone was comparing it to the tie-breaker race when McQueen was a rookie. If that was the case it didn't matter what the numbers said, he'd pull something that would bring him back to the top.
Low and behold, number 95 was at the top of the leader board at the end of the race. On his show, he hadn't let on that he had expected that, in fact he acted down right outraged, and he was. All he did was nudge someone too hard and he gets hate for years and truthfully still does; but McQueen no, he gets praised for switching out about half way through the race with a rookie racer.
Don't the other racers care, and they called him a cheat. In the end, it didn't matter either way, his show was doing great and McQueen was in a more background place where he belonged. It was the Chick era now and he was going to savour it.
I've never been an overly big fan of Chick Hicks, but I was sad that we didn't get to see what happened to him in Cars 2. So, when he showed up in Cars 3 I was grateful for the update but that brought up a whole new swath of questions for me. My biggest one was who in the world would give a car like Chick Hicks a TV show. This is my take on how he got to that point.
