Which characters have already won the Piston Cup?

The Cars franchise, created by Pixar, was responsible for presenting a completely new universe, where anthropomorphic automobiles interact, own businesses, and even work as athletes, given that the main character, Lightning McQueen, is a pilot and often participates in racing championships, the best known among them being the Piston Cup.

The Piston Cup is an American stock car racing championship, which began with dirt track circuits, but was changed to asphalt. Furthermore, the name was later changed to the Hudson Hornet Piston Cup, in honor of the racer who made the championship widely known.

But besides Hudson Hornet, do you know who the Piston Cup winners were? In the franchise’s films, some of them are revealed, others were named through fan theories on social media and online communities. Look!

Hudson Hornet

In 1951, 1952 and 1953 the Piston Cup was won by Hudson Hornet, as shown in the first feature film in the franchise, released in 2006.

Lightning MCQUEEN

Between 2006 and 2016, Lightning McQueen secured 7 golden trophies, becoming the competitor with the most victories among all editions.

Jackson Storm

In ‘Cars 3’ (2017), Jackson Storm leaves McQueen, Bobby and Cal in the dust when he overtakes them on the last lap of the 2016 season. The character’s second victory comes in 2018, when he gains an advantage over Cruz Ramirez

Cruz Ramirez

The 2017 season, held 4 months after McQueen’s accident, was responsible for bringing Cruz Ramirez his first trophy. Shortly afterwards, in the 2019 Piston Cup, she secured her second title.

Chase Racelott

Chase Racelott, the New Generation Piston Cup race car featured in Cars 3, becomes the Piston Cup winner for the first time in 2020.

Pedro Macaret

In the year of Chase Racelott’s victory, Pedro Macaret becomes runner-up and precedes his effort to win the trophies he won in the following years, as he took first place on the podium in the 2021 and 2022 Piston Cup.

In addition to these, on X (formerly Twitter), a fan theorizes the names that have won the Piston Cup since the competition emerged in the 1940s (the information was never confirmed by Pixar); look: